
















































































THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM LIBRARY 





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THE Jouns Hopkins UNIvERsITyY STUDIES IN ARCHAEOLOGY, No. 1 
ve ; EpiTED BY Davip M. ROBINSON 


BY 


LILLIAN M. WILSON, PH. D. 


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BALTIMORE ; 
THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS 


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Copyright 1924, By 
e The Johns Hopkins Press 
Baltimore, Md. 





THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM 
ie LIBRARY ai 

The Lord Galtimore Press 

BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A. 

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TO THE MEMORY OF MY SISTER 
" E. W. M. 











INTRODUCTION 


The peculiar place which the toga held in Roman life and 
affairs, its symbolism, its long existence through many changes, 
all give it an interest and a significance beyond that of an ordi- 
nary article of clothing. Like the letters, S. P. Q. R., it was repre- 
sentative of Rome itself. It seems appropriate, therefore, to 
include this garment in the study of Roman life, history and liter- 
ature, and to determine as nearly as possible its various forms and 
the manner of wearing it. 

While a considerable amount of scholarly effort has been 
expended upon the problem of the toga, it has been, for the most 
part, in the nature of discussions of some one form. In the few 
instances where the discussion has been extended to include several 
forms, the reconstruction on the living model (the real test of a 
theory as to form) has been only partially undertaken. 

The object of the following study is to present a connected 
history of the toga, to trace the derivation of each succeeding form 
from those which preceded it, and to correlate the evidence 
afforded by the monuments with that contained in classical litera- 
ture. In doing this, an effort has been made to face every problem, 
and to present frankly the reconstruction of each form in detail. 
The assertion is constantly stressed that no form of the toga was 
ever absolutely and invariably fixed; and that a reconstruction, 
at best, can only give a close approximation to the general shape 
of each style. It is with this reservation that the results set forth 
in the following pages are presented. 


Z, 


8 INTRODUCTION 


Owing to the disturbed conditions during the war, the arrange- 


ment and numbering of many museum collections do not now | 


correspond with the previously published catalogues. Hence no 
attempt has been made to give the museum numbers of the statues 
and reliefs, but in nearly all cases where the monument is of 
importance, a reproduction of it is given. 

With three or four minor exceptions, the illustrations of works 
of art are from photographs in the writer’s collection, many of 
which were made especially for her use; with a like number of 
exceptions, her study was made from the original monuments. 

In preparing the manuscript, the writer has tried to limit the 
use of italics, and to this end, the italicizing of certain Latin 
words is discontinued when their recurrence in the text becomes 
frequent. 


The writer extends her sincere thanks to all those who have 
assisted her in her work; to Dr. David M. Robinson of the Johns 
Hopkins University for careful, scholarly criticism of both the 
manuscript and the proof sheets; to Dr. Tenney Frank of the 
Johns Hopkins University, who read the original draft of the 
manuscript and made important corrections and suggestions; to 
Dean Gordon J. Laing of the University of Chicago, who first 
suggested this study and whose interest and encouragement during 
its progress have been unfailing. To Professor Gorham P. 
Stevens, Director of the American Academy at Rome, to Pro- 
fessor F. P. Fairbanks of the School of Fine Arts, and to the other 
members of the faculty of the Academy she is indebted for many 
courtesies and for assistance in getting access to private collections 
in Rome; also to Dr. Walther Amelung for securing for her 
photographs which are not easily obtainable; to Dr. and Mrs. 


Ve ——————— 


INTRODUCTION 9 


John Shapley of New York University for the loan of their large 
collection of photographs of ivory consular diptychs, and to M. 
Jean de Bardy of the University of Paris for assistance in getting 
special photographs made. 

It would be impossible to make full acknowledgment of all the 
courtesies extended to her by the Directors and members of the 
staff of the various museums which she has had occasion to visit, 
and for all of which she is deeply grateful. For special privileges 
and assistance, she is particularly indebted to Dr. Bartolomeo 
Nogara, Director of the Vatican Museums; Dr. Frederick 
Poulsen of the Ny-Carlsberg Museum of Copenhagen; Dr. 
Frederick Eichler and Dr. Arpad Weixlgartner of the History 
of Art Museum of Vienna; Dr. Miller of the Albertinum, 
Dresden; Dr. Cecil H. Smith of the Victoria and Albert Museum, 
London; Dr. C. T. Currelly of the Royal Ontario Museum at 
Toronto, Canada; Halil Edhem Bey of the Royal Ottoman Mu- 
seum of Constantinople; Dr. Theodore Wiegand, Director of the 
Department of Classical Antiquities in the National Museum at 
Berlin; Sig. Alessandro Frattini, Director of the Doria Pam- 
philia Collections at Rome, and to the Director of the Museo 
Archeologico at Florence. For permission to make photographs 
in the museums and for other favors, she extends her thanks to the 
Directors and members of the staff of each of the following mu- 
seums: the Musée du Louvre, the British Museum, the Museo 
delle Terme and the Capitoline Museum at Rome, the Museo 
Nazionale at Naples, and the Museum at Ostia. 





TABLE OF CONTENTS 


PAGE 

So ee ie 

Chapter I. The Toga of the Republican Period........ 17 

eee, il. The Togaof the Ara Pacis Reliefs.......... 43 

Meeerterer) ) i he Imperial Toga. 7.2... eee ee 61 

ierapier ty. Later Forms of the Toga................- 89 
Appendix. The Toga for Today; Suggestions for Its 

Ree CPEVU LIfe: Ne iarice koech Sn Sse hp we ee V7 

EIT (ec sgt cles elas teste eee 129 

aaa. eal Ne lel Ge 131 





Vere. SS a 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIGURE 

TESOL ES ee. nis hos O55 gil ass 5 tig alsa Rabe Wee RW a © wna eens es Facing page 17 
NE EMER RO RIOLT I ORD YE 35.2. aleve SiON S vale ald a Wea ela sacle bee aces seclees Page 24 
a The Toga of the Arringatore on the Living Model................ Facing page 30 
ie The Draping of the Toga of the Arringatore on Living Model..... és ek ae F 
fetacram onthe Loga of the Arringatore... 2.0... 2.06.6. cece scene Page 33 
8. A Cross-Section of the Stripe on the Toga of the Arringatore.............. S87 
ne Portrait Statues in the Museo delle Terme. Rome............ Between pages 40-41 
11, A Portrait Statue in a Private Collection. Rome............. us “40-41 
12.| The Toga of Figs. 9, 10 and 11 (the Large Toga of the 

13. Republican) Period ony Living Models ..c aco. ese be a “40-41 
[222 otatue in the Museo delle Terme. Rome......-2...0..c0ceeccaee Facing page 42 
Pemrssdcmeview Of Pig, 12. Living Model... .... 20.26.00 cece ee nenes = as 
16. Diagram of the Large Toga of the Republican Period........ Between pages 42-43 
17a. , : ‘ 

a reliefs Of SG) EGF CY a Sag cae ean ra Facing page 43 
os Reliefs con WE a ea) ie 
17d. 

ee ete arom fhe Ara) Pacis... 6.5.2 ects es ens s canes cedwaene is So aS 
Semmeeseraniur tre Loga of the Ara Pacis........ 0... 0000 06..ceesescceacces Page 47 
20. - Reconstructions of the Toga of the Ara Pacis on Living Model..... Facing page 48 
21. 

Suey atrer auiting Im Pompei... ........2.6.. 0002s reece esse neces = “53 
Pemnottrart Statue Of AUgUStUS. (2.2... sae ncec cscs nance cancecess te © 6 
peeewrotttaltaotatue Of a Roman. Vatican..... 2.00. .600ccc ewe encnace * cf GE 
Serer erica statue of a Roman Boy.........5.. 0000-600 ccs aenwenee oF ee G2 
weer O8traltrotatue of a Roman. Lateran. ......2...6..0cccc ees eees is bape tor) 
Comreraeeet on the linperial Toga... .... 60. .i ccs eae enc cesausuecussceets Page 64 
nem rc@retne AMperial Toga. «ces c- face tn mya ceu nls de ade ev ius cos cuuces AGS 
eye Oftrait Statue in the Museo delle Terme..................00206 Facing page 67 
era Portrait Statue in the Ny-Carlsberg Glyptotek.................. S67 
29b. 

geet imeperial Toga on the Living Model...........- 000-0020 0c ness 7 en ak 


13 


14 ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIGURE 
31a. ; ; eae 
aib. The Draping of the Imperial Toga on Living Model.............. Facing page 69 
32. Back of Fig. 30. Living Model.........-..-0.s esse cee ee cece eee ees a Cag 
33. Back of Fig. 25. .0ks« scams s sisgine oe meine sm elamatnisys ate elaine erie irate = Cae 
34a. A Portrait Statue. Mumich.......-.00+ceeeeecee reer eee eecvaceece < ‘Cre 
34b. A Relief on a Flavian Altar. Vatican...........6seseeeeeeseeesees ‘ i | 
35. A Relief of the Antonine Period. Rome........-+++++++++0++ Between pages 74-75 
36. An Imperial Toga of the Antonine Period on the Living Model. “74-75 
37. A Relief from the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum...........-..... Facing page 75 
38a. A Portrait Bust, Louvres... 6. scu vig eecss sees eee sane eae ee ue at. 056 
38b. A Portrait Bust. British Museum.... 1.6.0... 2e cece rec eeeeenaes s “. 96 
39. Diagram of the Toga with Folded Bands............-...+... Between pages 76-77 
4o. <A Relief on a Sarcophagus in the Church of S. Saba. Rome.......-. Facing page 77 
FA. 
AB Forms of Drapery with Folded Bands. Living Model........ Between pages 78-79 
41c. Drapery with Folded Bands. Living Model....... io). Rap een 4 “78-79 
41d. Back Arrangement of Drapery of Fig. 41a. Living Model.... % “78-79 
42. A Portrait Statue in the Barberini Collection. Rome......... = “78-79 
43. Fragment of a Statue in the Albertinum. Dresden..........-. 2 “78-79 
44. A Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 42. Living Models... " “78-79 
45. A Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 43. Living Model...... 8 “78-79 
46. The Draping of the Toga of Figs. 44 and 45. Living Model........ Facing page 80 
47a. An Illustration from a Manuscript of Vergil. Vatican...........-. = 287, 
b. ; ‘ 

a, ha Suggested Reconstruction of the Cinctus Gabinus........--+.-+++ : “87 
48. A Portrait Statue in the Museo delle Terme. Rome...........+-++- o GS ASs 
49. A Reconstruction on Living Model of the Toga of Fig. 48.......... a 0% 
50. Diagram of the Toga of Fig. 49.-....--.seseec cece cent cence er eeeeceeeee Page 93 
51. A Portrait Statue in the Villa Doria Pamphilia. Rome.........-..- Facing page 94 
et A Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 51. Living Model............ He <3 
52b. 
53. - Diagram of the Toga of Figs. 52a and 52b......-...+s+s+eeereeereres ..-Page 96 
54. A Detail from a Relief from a Sarcophagus in the Museo delle 

Terme. ‘Rome cs sa ceacdin iin sc seele se ain'ds sietiaes 2 ovias aan ae Facing page 97 
sales Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 54. Living Model............ us =’ 998 
56. Diagram of the Toga of Figs. 55a and 55b.....-.-.--++++eeeeeeees * ee 
egy Statue from North Africa. Lowvré.........00-eeseeeeeee Between pages 100-101 
58a.| A Reconstruction of the Toga of Figs. 57a and 57b. Living 
58b. Model = css vities sia doe ea new Be oreiyoe ss ore ate a een ote a eee = “100-101 


ILLUSTRATIONS 15 


FIGURE 
Sersnromotine Loga of Figs. 58a and s8b.....-..00c260sseccacsseccess Page 102 
60. The Draping of the Toga of Fig. 58a. Living Model............. Facing page 102 
61a. 
aia } Reliefs from a Monument of Diocletian. Roman Forum.......... a4 «103 
62. <A Portrait Statue in the Conservatori Palace. Rome........ Between pages 104-105 
63. <A Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 62, on Living Model.. a “104-105 
64. A Relief from the Roman Base of an Egyptian Obelisk. 
NEU PEM OITA OPEL aii tasic tii c& ce Soe ee ihn dace aad S's 6 “s 104-105 

65a. : 
65b. + A Statue in the Royal Ottoman Museum. Constantinople.... = 104-105 
65c. 
eememasrawing or the Back of Fig. 62......6.042 000d sacceesneasess Facing page 106 
een wee bace of Fig. 63. Living Model...........0.0.cccsccgsencavcs z *- 706 
68a. 
van, The Draping of the Toga of Fig. 63. Living Model........ Between pages 108-109 
68c. 

ona, pThe Draping of the Toga of Fig. 63. Living Model........ he “108-109 
Serene waeram of the’ Toga of Fig. 63........6.00..cc0ce ences Pee Men diaott 5 Facing page 110 
-joa. An Anonymous Consular Diptych of the 6th Century...... Between pages 112-113 
eee Pe DEC!) Of COTESCES. 6c. cis hice eee cee penseceiuce es “112-113 
Be MIMBEDIOIVCN OF BOCZIAL .. 65 Sect cc ce eek once ceenecasccevns + “112-113 

Ia. 
aN Reconstructions of the Toga of Figs. 70a, 7ob and 7oc, 
me. meencesivery, Living Model: .i.sc....5..ccccseceanses . «112-113 
72. The Draping of the Toga of Fig. 71c. Living Model.............. Facing page 114 
Summereaee te the Drapery of Figs 71... 1.2... cece cece sds eccececes o eee 
74. Diagram of the Toga of Figs. 71a, 71b and 71¢..................- s f° ge 


' 75. An Approximate Reproduction of a Shade of Roman Purple.............. Page 119 








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an aes : ; - ; 





Fic. 1. 


The Arringatore. 
Alinari. Florence. 





THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 


The form of the outer garment worn by primitive people has 
usually been some sort of rectangular shawl or blanket. Such 
was the himation of the Greek, the tartan of the Gael and the 
blanket of the American Indian. Probably this too was the origi- 
nal shape of the toga of the Roman; but not until the Roman 
had advanced well beyond his most primitive state, do we have 
any definite information regarding his clothing. 

For the study of the toga, we have two sources of information. 
The first one, literature, valuable as it is for corroboration, is 
naturally vague. The fererences to dress or other ordinary and 
personal affairs in Latin and Greek literature were naturally 
casual, just as they are in the general literature of all races and 
all ages.* Occasionally an author has undertaken to comment 
on dress, but such writings fall into two classes. In the first, the 
writer, like Quintilian, was writing for the people of his own 
age and naturally omitted the numerous details with which every 
one was then familiar, but of which we, at this distant day, are 
ignorant. His comments, therefore, do not enable us to visualize 
the garment he is discussing, much less to reconstruct it. The 
other class of writers, like Isidore and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 
undertook to write for posterity, but the scientific method of his- 
torical research and writing had not been developed in their day, 


1In our current literature there are numerous references to narrow dress skirts and 
short dress skirts but the reader of 2000 years hence will search in vain for an explicit 
statement in literature as to the exact length and breadth that was considered proper at 
any given period. 


17 


18 THE ROMAN TOGA 


and they contented themselves with generalizations and with 
quotations from earlier authors, adding their own comments 
which may or may not be well founded) Our other source, the 


existing statues, relief sculptures and paintings of the Roman | 


period afford us more positive evidence. Indeed, written in 


their own peculiar cipher, these monuments have preserved? come 


us a fairly consecutive record of several centuries of toga 
existence. 

- Neither of these two sources give definite information regard- 
ing the origin of the toga, though a few ancient writers have 
referred to it. Both Tertullian and Servius were cognizant of 
a tradition that the toga was of Lydian and Etruscan origin.” 
But such traditions have so often proven erroneous, that, unsup- 
ported, they cannot be accepted as conclusive evidence. 

Pliny says that the toga was worn by kings, and mentions Tullus 
Hostilius and Servius.* In the latter instance he evidently had 
in mind a wooden statue wearing a toga praetexta which once 
stood in the Temple of Fortune, and which he seems to have 
thought was a portrait statue of Servius; but this identification 
is by no means certain.* He does not assert that the toga was of 
Etruscan origin, but says that the praetexta, the purple-bordered 
garment, originated among the Etruscans. 

The evidence from existing monuments is wholly negative. 
In early Etruscan reliefs and paintings, the usual large, draped 
mantle is rectangular. On later monuments, those dating from 
about the third century B. C., a circular garment like the early 
Roman toga occasionally appears, though less frequently than 


* See Tertullian, De Pallio, I, 1; and Servius, Ad Aen., I, 781. 
3 See Pliny, Nat. Hist., VIII, 74 and IX, 63. 
# See Ovid, Fasti, VI, 569. 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 19 


the rectangular one. At the same period in Roman sculpture, 
however, this circular garment is the usual one on figures of 
Roman citizens. Apparently, therefore, the form of the Roman , 
toga was of Roman and not Etruscan origin. But on very early/ 
Etruscan monuments, as well as later ones, there is a purple bor- 
der or on the rectangular mantle, and so far as we know, the Etrus- 
cans may have been the first among Italian peoples to wear such 
a border. 





While the evidence from all sources is too slender to justify 
a positive statement, it is reasonable to assume that the Romans, 
like most other peoples, had, at a very early date, a rectangular 
blanket or shawl. Since this is the usual shape of all textiles as 
they come from the loom, there is no need to suppose that they 
derived it from any other people, unless it be that they learned 
weaving from the Etruscans or some other race, and acquired 
this garment as a natural result. The Etruscans, we know, had 
a rectangular mantle. The Romans called their own mantle a 
toga, and they probably applied the same name to the Etruscan 
garment. The Etruscan mantle was purple-bordered—a prae- 
texta. The Romans adopted the purple border, using a toga so 
decorated as an official garment of especial importance. At some 
Bomians appear to have made a slight change in the fore of 
their mantle, giving the lower edge a curving shape. Accepting 
the foregoing theory, it is easy to account for a tradition of Etrus- 
can origin of the toga. 

In this connection, a remark of Dionysius of Halicarnassus is 
significant.” The toga of Roman kings, he says, is like that worn 


5 See Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III, 61, quoted in n. 16, this chapter. 


_\facts which account for the long survival of the toga, despite its. 


— 


20 THE ROMAN TOGA 


by the kings of Lydia and Persia. But the likeness was in the 
rich coloring. There was a difference in shape which he passes 
aS a mere ‘exception to the general resemblance. The tradition 
of Lydian origin, therefore, seems also to have been based on the 
color and not the shape of the toga.° 

But whatever its origin, the toga is probably the earliest dis- 
tinctively racial garment, that is, the earliest garment which was 
both a necessary article in the wardrobe, and at the same time 
a badge of citizenship, or membership in a political organiza- 
tion. The privilege of wearing it, its color and decoration were 
prescribed by law as well as by custom. It was doubtless these 


inconvenient form. . 


Rae 


_ at the same time to retain certain features which were apparently 


_ considered essential characteristics. 


Concerning the early form of the toga, literary references are 
most scanty. Isidore (evidently quoting the Scholia on Persius)’ 
is sometimes quoted. The paragraph in question states that the 
toga is so called because it envelopes the body and covers and 
conceals it; that it is a simple pallium, circular in shape and 
very copious with a flowing curve; that it comes under the right 
and passes over the left shoulder. The writer adds that we see 


® See also Miiller, Die Etrusker, II, 245 ff. for discussion of the origin of the toga. 
7 Scholia on Persius, V, 14. 


7 


ee ee 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 21 


imitations of this garment in the draperies on statues and in 
pictures,® and that we call them togated statues. 3 

But Isidore (or the Scholiast) is not at all explicit as to the 
period to which the toga under discussion belongs, and the 
remarks quoted above would apply equally well to either an 
early or a very late form of the garment. Quintilian, discussing 
the dress of an orator, remarks that “‘in olden times there were 
no sinus; after that they were very short.” * 

From the vagueness of these literary references, we turn to 
the clearer and more definite evidence offered by the existing 
monuments—statues, relief sculpture and wall paintings. But 
even here it is necessary to proceed with caution, for one must 
discriminate carefully between details that are true to actual 


form and those which are due, either wholly or in part, to 
artistic license. It is therefore advisable, before beginning a 
“discussion of the reconstruction of the toga on the living model, 
to determine what is to be considered proof of an accurate 
reconstruction, not only of one, but of all the forms of the toga. 
Without entering in detail into the question of the lines of” 
drapery which are essential or characteristic and those which 
are incidental or arbitrary, it may be stated as an obvious fact 
that a given piece of drapery placed upon a figure will inevitably 
produce certain folds and lines. Let us suppose that a hundred 
shawls, of the same size and shape and of the same or similar 


8 Isidore, Etymologiae sive Origines, XIX, 24, 3, “ Toga dicta quod velamento sui corpus 
tegat atque operiat. Est autem pallium purum forma rotunda et fusiore, et quasi inun- 
dante sinu, et sub dextro veniens supra humerum sinistrum ponitur, cuius similitudinem 
in operimentis simulacrorum vel picturarum aspicimus, easque statuas togatas vocamus.” 

9 Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, XI, 3, 137, “nam veteribus nulli sinus, perquam breves 
post illos fuerunt.” 


22, THE ROMAN TOGA 


texture, be draped each upon a human figure and that these 
figures are about the same size. Manifestly, on no two of the 
figures will all the folds and lines of the shawl be absolutely 
and photographically identical in every detail. But it is equally 
obvious that each and every one of the one hundred shawls as 
it falls over the human figure, will produce in all its parts 
certain folds and lines, which, in a general way, Closely resemble 
the corresponding parts of the other ninety-nine shawled fig- 
ures. It is likewise obvious that if the size and shape of any one 
shawl be changed and made different from the other shawls, its 
general lines and folds as it is placed on the figure, will differ 
materially from the corresponding folds and lines of the other 
shawls. 

These general lines and folds common to the one hundred 
figures are the characteristic or essential lines. The numerous 
other lines and folds which vary on each figure are casual or 
incidental. For an illustration of this resemblance and varia- 
tion of lines and folds of drapery, see the togated figures on 
the relief sculptures, Figs. 17a, b, c, d, and e. 

The sculptor’s chief interest is in the characteristic lines. In 
proportion as he is able to recognize and successfully reproduce 
them, excluding those that are casual, he has achieved the simpli- 
fication of his subject. Artists vary in their ability to do this. 
Not only does the drapery on the living model have its casual! 
or incidental folds, but the artist often introduces into the drapery 
on his statue casual folds of his own fancy; and indeed, some- 
times folds that are wholly arbitrary, that is, those which the 
actual drapery could not produce under the conditions shown 
on the statue. Moreover—and this point must be constantly 


a ne 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 23 


borne in mind—neither the sculptors nor the painters were pro- 
ducing fashion plates. ‘They had no thought of making an exact 
record of the precise form of the garments which appear on 
their statues. Some of them achieved a great degree of realism 
in the rendering of their draperies, others were content with 
producing only a generalized statement of them; whereas still 
others frankly aimed at nothing but artistic effect. 

For this reason an accurate reconstruction of any sculptured’ 
garment must be based on a study, not of a few, but of many 
representations of it, and, in order to gain exact knowledge, a 
large proportion of the representations which one studies must 
be—not photographs and drawings—but the actual monuments 
themselves on which the articulation and relative positions of 
all parts of the garment can be carefully studied. One must 
examine minutely the sculptor’s manner of rendering drapery. 
To what extent is the rendering realistic and true to the behavior 
of actual draperies? Does the mass of sculptured fabric at any 
one point produce the folds on other parts of the figure which 
actual fabric would inevitably do? And are the folds properly 
accounted for by the mass of fabric gathered at any point or 
points? Do the folds and lines of the sculptured drapery on 
one part of the figure articulate, as actual drapery would do, 
with the lines and folds on other parts of the figure? Is the 
sculptured drapery so placed on the figure, that if it were actual 
fabric it would remain in place? By such investigation as this, 
the student will soon find that many statues and relief figures 
cannot be accepted as authority for the form and arrangement 
of their draperies, and much less for any especially peculiar 
detail which those draperies present. 


24 


THE ROMAN TOGA 





Fie. 2 
The Venus Genetrix. 
Louvre. 


The several statues of the 
so-called Venus Genetrix are 
obvious illustrations of this 
point. (See Fig. 2, the Venus 
Genetrix of the Louvre.) 
The drapery which lies on 
the upper left arm can only 
be imagined as having this 
position for an instant as it 
slips from the shoulder. The 
curving folds which lie upon 
the right leg, melt away at 
the ends, and in no way ac- 
count for the depth of fabric 
which appears at the lowest 
point of the curves. The 
drapery is in no sense realistic 
but purely and deliberately 
artistic. 

In reproducing in actual 
textiles a drapery shown ona 
sculptured figure, one must 
discriminate between the 
folds which are inevitable or 
characteristic and those 
which are either casual or 
wholly arbitrary, and, pro- 
ceeding with the argument 
used in the case of the one 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 25 


hundred shawls, if a piece of drapery be placed on a human 
figure in the same manner as that shown on a sculptured figure, 
and it produces in all its parts the essential lines and folds shown 
on the statue, then the drapery must have practically the same 
size and shape as that which the sculptor used on his model. 
Pieces of fabric of widely differing shapes may be so draped on 
the human figure that they will resemble certain parts of the toga 
as shown on statues and relief sculptures, but no form can be 
accepted as correct unless it closely approximates the garment on 
the sculptured figure in all essential parts. On this principle, 
then, we proceed to the reconstruction of the toga on the living 
model. 

As stated above, the origin of the toga antedates the historical 
period of Rome and belongs to a date more remote than that 
of any existing Roman sculpture. A considerable amount of 
sculpture, both in relief and in the round, belonging to the middle 
of the Republican period, or to about the 3rd century B. C., has 
been preserved. Many of these monuments show male figures 
simply draped in a garment whose upper edge is placed on the 
front of the body and brought over the left shoulder, allowing 
the end of the drapery in front to extend down well below the 
knees. The upper edge.is then brought diagonally across the 
back, under the right arm-pit, thence diagonally across the breast 
and again over the left shoulder, the second end hanging down 
the left side of the back. The lower edge of the drapery is 
curving. The statues on which this drapery is represented are, 
as a rule, either mutilated, badly weathered, or so crudely ren- 
dered as to make a study of details impracticable. 

Fortunately, there exists a monument in an almost perfect 
state of preservation with which our study of the toga may begin. 


26 | THE ROMAN TOGA 


Itis a bronze Etrusco- Roman statue known as the “ Arringatore,” 
and is in the Museo Archeologico in Florence. It is attributed 
to the 3rd century B. C. Artistically it is a model of simplifi- 
cation. ‘The sculptor has excluded almost every fold that is not 
actually characteristic, and such details as he includes are clear 
and definite (see Fig. 1). | 
_ The outer garment or mantle which this figure wears, so far 
as its shape and manner of draping are concerned, fulfills the 
requirements of the literary reference cited above and must be 
accepted as the earliest form of toga of which the monuments 
have preserved to us a clear example. This statue shows a tunic 
worn under the toga, but according to Aulus Gellius, the Roman 
men at first were clothed only in the toga without tunics,” 
which indicates that there was an earlier and more primitive 
period of toga history than that represented by the “ Arringa- 
tore.” Asconius is authority for the statement that Cato, when 
praetor, because he was oppressed by the heat of summer, used to 
enter the forum and give judgment without his tunic, wearing © 
only a leather apron under his toga, and that he derived this 
from an ancient custom, according to which the statues of both 
Romulus and Tatius in the Capitol, and that of Camillus on the 
rostrum were clad in the toga without tunics.‘* As Cato’s prae- 
torship was fully a century after the probable date of the “ Ar- 
Tingatore” statue, it is evident that the custom of wearing the 
toga without the tunic was not confined to remote ages, though 


10 Gellius, Noctes Atticae, VI, 12, 3. ‘‘ Viri autem Romani primo quidem sine tunicis 
toga sola amicti fuerunt.” 

11 Asconius (ed. Clark), 4d Cic. in Scaurianam, 25. “ Cato praetor iudicium, quia aestate 
agebatur, sine tunica exercuit campestri sub toga cinctus. In forum quoque sic descendebat 
iusque dicebat, idque repetierat ex vetere consuetudine secundum quam et Romuli et Tati 
statuae in Capitolio et in rostris Camilli fuerunt togatae sine tunicis.” 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD begi 


even in Cato’s time it was rare enough to excite comment and 
criticism.” 

The sculptured figures of children of the period to which 
this toga belongs are few, but in the cortile of the Museo delle 
Terme there is a small sepulchral relief of the Republican 
period showing a little boy wearing this early form of toga. 
According to literary references, the toga in very early times 
was also worn by women as well as by men,” and we shall see 
that the wearing of it by young girls was continued at least until 
about the beginning of the imperial period. But in later times 
the plain inference from literary passages is that the wearing of 
it was discontinued by women excepting those of the disreputable 
sort.” 

The general shape of the toga which the “ Arringatore ” wears 
is obvious. The upper edge of the garment, which is brought 
diagonally across the breast and over the left shoulder and al- 
lowed to hang down the back, is straight. The lower edge of the 
garment is curved, but just how much it is curved or rounded 
admits of some discussion. On this point, as on nearly all others 
in connection with the actual reconstruction of Roman garments, 
literary references give us but little help. According to Isidore 
or the Scholiast, quoted in note 8, the garment is circular 
(rotunda). Quintilian discussing the dress of an orator says, “ I 
should wish the toga itself to be rounding and cut to fit, for other- 
wise there are many ways in which it may be unshapely.” ** The 
truth of the last phrase in the foregoing sentence will be strongly 


12 See Plutarch, Cato, 6, and Plutarch, Coriolanus, 14. 
13 Varro, Non. p. 540, 31, M. “toga non solum viri, sed etiam feminae utebantur.” 
14 See Juvenal, II, 68 and Martial, X, 52. 


15 Quintilian, Imstitutio Oratoria, XI, 3, 139, “ipsam togam rotundam esse et apte caesam 
velim, aliter enim multis modis fiet enormis.” 


28 THE ROMAN TOGA 


impressed upon any one who attempts an accurate reconstruc- 
tion of the toga. This remark of Quintilian together with a 
statement made by Dionysius of Halicarnassus,** has been taken 
as proof positive that the toga was absolutely semi-circular.” 
Quintilian, describing the shape as above, uses the same word 
as does Isidore, ‘“‘ rotunda” which certainly does not mean abso- 
lutely semi-circular, but round or rounding, and since obviously 
the toga was not round (a circle) the correct translation must 
be rounding. In note 16 I have given the full text of the passage 
from Dionysius. He is writing of the dress of Roman kings, 
and after enumerating several articles with a brief phrase de- 
scriptive of each, he continues, “and a bright, many-colored 
garment thrown around the body such as the kings of Lydia and 
Persia wear, excepting that it is not rectangular in shape as these 
are, but semi-circular.” The sentence closes here; beginning 
the next sentence, he continues, “And garments of this sort the 
Romans call togas, the Greeks tebennos; whence it is derived I 
do not know.” Dionysius has described a garment worn by 
Roman kings, which was rich in color and semi-circular in shape. 
Then he makes the general statement that the Romans call gar- 
ments of this sort, togas. If, on such evidence, it is to be asserted 
that the shape of the toga must be an absolute semi-circle, then 
it can, with equal justice, be asserted that it must always be bright 
and many-colored, which is wholly contrary to other evidence. 
As a matter of fact Dionysius’ statement is not precise. In the 
first place, the Romans did not call all circular cloaks togas; and 


16 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III, 61. . . . kat mepiBdrarov ropgpupodr roikidoy, ola Avddy 
re kal Ilepowy épdpovy of Bacidreis, TAH ov TETPAYwror Ye TH OXNHUATL, KAOdTEp Exeiva HY, GAN’ 
uckdKroy. Ta be ro.adTa Tar dupiecparwv ‘Pwuaior wer Toyas,”“ENAnves 5¢ rHBevvoy Kadov- 
av, ovK 018’ 67d0ev wadorTes. 

17 See Léon Heuzey, Histoire du costume antique, pp. 231 and 239. Paris, 1922. 





THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 29 


as already pointed out, togas were not always, nor even as a 
general rule “ many-colored.”” Dionysius was writing a history 
and this particular part of it is concerned with the period of the 
Tarquins which was more than 500 years before his own time. 
His aim, in this paragraph, was merely to give, according to his 
lights, a general idea of the costume of Roman kings. 

It will be observed in Fig. 1 that the toga as it passes around 
the body and legs, forms practically a sheath or narrow skirt, 
and at the lower edge it is so scanty that were it not eased by the 
manner in which it is draped over the left arm, it would be too 
narrow for any free movement of the legs. As it is, the drapery 
permits free movement and has no unnecessary and inconvenient 
fullness. But a piece of cloth which is a complete semi-circle, 
when draped as a toga, produces a full ruffle on the left side of 
the body and greatly increases the folds to be carried on the 
left arm. The drapery will also dip much lower on the right 
side than it does on Fig. 1, while the ends, both back and front, 
will hang in sharp, elongated points. These defects produce a 
drapery which is clumsy and ungraceful as compared with Fig. 1. 

The impossibility of properly draping as a toga, a piece of 
cloth which is a full semi-circle or even a complete segment of a 
circle, is still more apparent in the later and more elaborate forms 
of the toga.** 

A number of experiments made by the writer have resulted 
in the form of toga shown on the living model, Fig. 3, which 
reproduces the proportions and essential lines of Fig. 1. The 
form of this reconstructed toga is shown by diagram, Fig. 7. 

In the reconstruction of this toga as well as of all the forms 
discussed in this monograph, the unit of measurement is the 


18 See n. 6, Chap. III. 


30 THE ROMAN TOGA 


height of the model from the floor to the base of the neck in 
front. But in determining the length, we must also reckon with 
the girth measurement, since the required length of a toga is 
conditioned upon the slenderness or corpulence of the model as 
well as upon the height. 

The extreme length of this toga (the line AB) equals the girth 
measure plus twice the unit; the extreme width, cd is 14 the 
unit; the portion CD of the lower edge is straight and is about 
equal to the unit; the ends Aa and Bb are also straight and each 
equals 3 the unit.” See “ Schedule of Proportions” I, Appendix. 
One can think of this toga as a rectangular piece of cloth with 
the corners rounded off by the curves aD and bC. But it must 
be borne in mind that the measurements and proportions of a 
draped garment like the toga in all its forms, are comparatively 
flexible. For practical use, they need not be given with the exact- 
ness which would be required in giving the measurements and 
proportions of a tailored suit. (See note 19.) It is most im- 
probable that any two togas were ever absolutely identical in 
every curve and line. ” 

The diagrams which follow, illustrating the forms of the toga 
are developed from Fig. 7, the diagram of the Arringatore toga. 
Each succeeding form of the toga was developed from the pre- 
ceding form, which is the general rule in the evolution of all 
garments. ‘The diagrams will, therefore, present graphically the 
successive changes in the form of the toga. 


19 The unit of measure used in the diagram is 56 inches; that is, the height of the model 
from the floor to the base of the neck in front was 56 inches. Naturally there will be, 
in some of the proportions, unwieldy fractions which may be varied slightly without mate- 
rially affecting the drapery as a whole. According to the extant monuments the straight 
edges Aa, Bb and CD varied in length in different togas, as did also the curvature of the 
lines aD and bC of diagram Fig. 7 and the succeeding diagrams. Similar variation in 
length occurs in line EF of the succeeding forms. 





Fic. 4. 


Fic. 3. 


The Toga of the Arringatore. 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 31 


The literary references concerning the draping of the toga, 
while leaving much to be desired in the way of information, are 
usually clear enough to enable one to reconcile them with the 
drapery appearing on the sculptured figures. Quintilian in the 
passage previously referred to says that “the front part of it 
should reach to the middle of the shin, the back part being higher 
in the same proportion as the girding.” * Girding or girt used 
in connection with the costume, without other specification, 
meant to the Roman the girding of the tunic. In the paragraph 
immediately preceding the quotation in question, Quintilian 
gives instructions regarding the tunic. “He who has not the 
right to wear the broad stripe,” he says, “ should be so girded 
that the tunic in front will reach a little below the knee, in the 
back to the middle of the knees...” That is, the tunic is to 
be girded so that it will be about two or three inches shorter in 
the back than in the front; and what Quintilian evidently means 
is that there should be the same difference between the front and 
back of the toga. 


20 Quintilian, of. cit., 139-140, “Pars eius prior mediis cruribus optime terminatur, 
posterior eadem portione altius qua cinctura.” 

The last word in the above quotation “cinctura” has sometimes been translated 
“girdle”; see this passage in Butler’s translation of Quintilian in the Loeb Classical 
Library. The explanation which I have given, as well as the form of the word itself, 
seem fully to justify my translation. 

21 Quintilian, of. cit., 138, “ Cui lati clavi ius non erit, ita cingatur, ut tunicae prioribus 
oris infra genua paulum, posterioribus ad medios poplites usque perveniant.” 

The word “poplites” is ambiguous, especially when we try to reconcile this passage 
with the existing monuments. It is variously translated “hams” (which on the human 
figure can only mean “ thighs”) and “knees.” As the sculptures and paintings show the 
short tunic of civilians as reaching well over the lower part of the knee joint in front, 
and to about the middle of the joint in the back, it seems probable that “knee” is the 
better translation, and that Quintilian used the word “ poplites” to avoid a repetition of 
the word “ genua.” 


32 THE ROMAN TOGA 


He further says, ‘“‘ that part which is under the right shoulder 
is brought diagonally to the left like a sword belt, neither too 
tight nor too loose.” * Quintilian was writing fully two hundred 
years after the probable date of the Arringatore statue, and the 
full text of his remarks show that he was discussing the toga of 
his own time, but, as we shall see, the passages quoted above are 
also applicable to the Arringatore toga. 

The method of draping the Arringatore toga is simple, but 
as it forms the basis of the more elaborate styles which follow, 
it seems best to illustrate it fully. The toga is placed upon the 
left shoulder so that it falls over the left side of the body and is 
supported on the left arm; the end Aa extends about half way 
between the knee and ankle, and hangs in front of, or between 
the legs. A few inches along the upper edge are gathered into 
folds which lie on the left shoulder. See Fig. 5. This roll of folds 
is then brought diagonally across the back, under the right-arm, 
then diagonally across the breast to the left shoulder and is again 
supported by the left arm. See Fig. 6. The end hanging down 
the back corresponds approximately in its disposition to the part 
that is first put on the front of the body with the end hanging 
between the legs, excepting that the end of the garment in the 
back is about three inches higher above the floor than the corre- 
sponding end in front of the body. See Fig. 4. Three features 
of this drapery should be especially noticed: 

First—The end which hangs down the front of the body and 
in front of, or between the legs. See Fig. 5. 

Second—The double set of folds on the left shoulder; that 
is, first, the folds formed by the garment as it is first put on the 


22 Quintilian, of. cit., 140, “ Ille, qui sub umero dextro ad sinistrum oblique ducitur velut 
balteus, nec strangulet, nec fluat.” 


‘a10}BSUIIIY ay} Jo eSOT, 94) Jo Surdeiqg oy], 
"9 ‘Oly “Seon 











: _ Fic, 7. 
The Form of the Toga of the Arringatore. 


33 





34 THE ROMAN TOGA 


shoulder (Fig. 5); and second, the continuation of these folds 
which is brought diagonally across the breast and passes over the 
left shoulder above the first group of folds. See Fig. 6. 

Third—The supporting of the toga on the left arm. These 
three features of the drapery, with numerous modifications, occur 
in all, save one,” of the various ways in which the toga was 
draped in the course of its long existence. 

Literary references to the material of the toga are scanty, but 
as wool was the usual material for outer garments, there can 





varied. Pliny says that the toga undulata was very popular at 
first: that the toga rasa and the toga Phryxiana are said to have 
come into use in the time of Augustus. But as the meaning of 
undulata and of Phryxtana is uncertain, excepting that they 
are evidently in contrast with rasa (smooth) the passage gives 
us but little help.** On account of the nature and size of the 
toga, the fabric must always have been relatively light and 
flexible. Perhaps at no time during the period represented by 
_ the existing monuments, was the material heavier than the lightest 
homespun flannel of Our ancestors of two or three generations 
ago, while the extremely large togas were much lighter and 
thinner in texture. This statement is based on a careful study 
of the nature of the folds and their quantity in the different 
forms of the toga to be found on existing statues. The toga 
shown on the Arringatore is probably of the heaviest fabric 
used in any toga of which we have an illustration in existing 


23 See Fig. 71 b. 
24 Pliny, Nat. Hist. VIII, 74. 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 35 


monuments. The ridges are stiff, and the folds are of the sort 
produced by relatively heavy, unpliable textiles. 

A few details in the rendering of the toga on this particular 
Statue are of especial interest. There is a border about three 
inches in width on its lower edge. It has been assumed that this 
border was sewed to the edge of the toga, and as evidence, atten- 
tion is called to the ridge formed by its joining with the toga.” 
On examining this statue, one finds that the edges of the toga— 
both the upper edge which comes diagonally across the breast, 
and the extreme lower edge of the border—are finished with a 
cord. The ridge already referred to along the upper edge of 
the border has the appearance of a braid, or of two parallel 
cords. The arm-hole and neck opening of the tunic are finished 
with a cord like that on the edge of the toga. 

An explanation of this detail is to be found on certain of the 
tunics from the Coptic graves now in the Musée des Tissus, 
Lyons, France, and the still larger collections of tunics in the 
Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and in the Royal 
Ontario Museum of Archaeology, in Toronto. Several of these 
tunics are finished around the arm-hole and neck with this same 
sort of cord. In places on these ancient garments, this cord is 
broken and the strands untwisted, showing plainly that it is 
made of the threads of which the fabric is woven. The cord on 
the edge of the toga of the Arringatore has exactly the same 
appearance as that on the tunic; and since the cord on the tunic 
is explained by the Coptic garments, we can safely assume that 
the cord on the edge of the toga of the Arringatore was pro- 
duced in the same way. That the border of this toga was, in all 


25 See Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. des Antig. V, p. 350; Heuzey, Histoire du costume 
antique, pp. 246 ff. 


36 THE ROMAN TOGA 


probability, attached in the weaving is fully demonstrated by 
an actual experiment on a hand loom; ** and the cord on the upper 
edge of the border, or along its joining with the toga, was pro- 
duced in the weaving by a process similar to that used in making 
the cords above mentioned. 

On the tip end of this toga in the back, there is a loop formed 
by threads left in the weaving. There was doubtless a similar 
loop on the front end, but it has been broken away. We find 
such loops similarly placed on togas for-more than three cen- 
turies following the date of the Arringatore. 

Latin literature mentions but two kinds of bordered toga, the 
toga praetexta™ and the toga trabea. So far as we know, these 
two togas differed only in color; the toga praetexta being of one 
color (sometimes white, sometimes dark, pu//a) with a purple 
border, while the toga trabea was party-colored and purple- 
bordered. 

To one or the other of these two classes therefore the Arringa- 
tore toga must belong, and the statue presents an unusual detail 
which seems to offer a possible clue to the solution. This detail 
consists of a number of stripes worked into the bronze. One of 
these stripes is under the right arm, or midway between the two 
ends of the toga and evidently extends from its upper edge to 
the border. There are indications of two and possibly three 
transverse stripes which would cross this under-arm stripe at 
right angles, and extend the length of the toga. The first of 
these stripes can be traced a few inches above the knee; a second 
appears near the middle of the body, and there are indications 
of a possible third in the folds on the breast. The bronze has 


°6 See discussion of the toga praetexta, Chap. II. 
°7 See discussion of the toga praetexta, Chap. II. 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD cv 


suffered from exposure so that these’ stripes cannot be traced 
clearly throughout their entire supposed length. They are about 
an inch or a little more in width, and consist of a rounded ridge, 
and on either side of the ridge and about 2 of an inch from it, 
an incised line. Fig. 8 gives approximately the contour of a 
cross section of this stripe. The stripe over the shoulder of the 
tunic is indicated by incised lines similar to those which outline 
these stripes on the toga. As there are extant bronze statues on 
which the stripe on the tunic, worked in this way, retains traces 


Wr  —r- 


Fic. 8. 


of paint,” it is wholly probable that the stripes on both the tunic 
and toga of this statue were originally painted. 

These stripes bring to mind passages in literature referring 
to a toga trabea. As usual, these literary references do not 
enable us to identify the garment in question. Servius states that 
Suetonius in his book on the kinds of garments says “there are 
three kinds of trabea, one consecrated to the gods which is wholly 
purple; another for kings which is purplish; it has, however, 
some white. The third belonging to augurs is purple and scarlet 
mixed.” * Again he states that the trabea is the toga of augurs and 
is of scarlet and purple.*® Another comment is to the effect that 


28 See a bronze statue known as the “ Camillus” in the Capitoline Museum; Von Mach, 


A Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture, pl. 326. 

29 Servius, 4d Aen., VII, 612. “ Suetonius in libro de genere vestium dicit tria genera 
esse trabearum; unum diis sacratum, quod est tantum de purpura; aliud regum, quod 
est purpureum, habet tamen album aliquid; tertium augurale de purpura et cocco 
mixtum.” 

80 Servius, of. cit., VII, 188. “ Succinctus trabea; toga est augurum de cocco et 
purpura.” 


38 THE ROMAN TOGA 


the curule chair and trabea are the insignia of authority among 
the Romans.” Dionysius describing the Salii says that in their 
festivals they put on a brooch-fastened, purple-bordered garment 
called a trabea, which, he adds, was a Roman garment and held 
in highest honor.” While the above passages agree as to the 
rich colors of the trabea, they make no mention of stripes. The 
generally accepted theory of the origin of the word trabea is that 
it is derived from trabes (the beams of a building) and that the 
name was applied to the garment because it was woven with 
stripes or bands which resembled trabes.** 

Numerous casual references might also be cited, all to the effect 
that the trabea was the garment of royalty, or at least of persons 
of distinction, and that it was worn on ceremonial occasions, 
but no further or more definite description of it has been brought 
to light. So, from the literary references we can neither prove 
nor disprove that the toga of the Arringatore is a trabea, nor 
can we even be sure that the trabea was always in the form of a 
toga. Mr. F. Courby defines it as a circular cloak,* and Dionys- 
lus says it was broach-fastened so that he evidently thought it a 
cloak. It is quite probable that the name was given at different 
periods to garments of varying shapes. However, we have on 
the Arringatore a striped toga, and literature tells us nothing of 


81 Servius, of. cit., XI, 334. “ Romanorum enim imperatorum insigne fuit sella curulis 
et trabea.” 

32 Dionysius, II, 70 (R.) “. .. kal ryBévvas éumeroprnuevor mepitoppipous porvcxorapv- 
gous, ds kadovor rpaBéas. eore 8 émcxwpros arn ‘Pwualos éoOys év Trois wavy Tiuia,” 

83 See “trabea ” in Lexicon Totius Latinitatis. 

34 See Claudius, In Rufinum, I, 249; Ovid, Fasti, II, 503; Pliny, Natural History, VIII, 
48, 74, 195; also IX, 63. 

In the last mentioned reference Helbig, Toga und Trabea, Hermes, XXXIX, 1904, p. 174, 
sees an implication on Pliny’s part that the trabea was a striped garment. 

35 See Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. des Antiquités, Vol. V, p. 382. 


THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 39 


any striped toga unless it be the trabea. Even the assumption that 
the trabea is striped rests, as has been explained, on an etymolog- 
ical theory. The Arringatore, though not a king, was, at least, 
a distinguished person; otherwise a bronze statue of him would 
not have been erected; and if a person of distinction, he might 
have been permitted the trabea, and here the argument must 
rest.*° 

Soon after or even contemporaneous with the probable date 
of the Arringatore, changes appear in the form of the toga, as 
will be seen by examining a large number of statues belonging 
to the 3rd and 2nd centuries B. C. Several of these statues are 
in the garden of the Museo delle Terme. See Figs. 9 and ro. 
The toga on these statues is much larger and longer than that on 
the Arringatore, the folds are looser and softer and the curves 
more graceful. The front end of the garment trails on the ground 
between the feet. These changes in the toga, and those which 
follow for nearly three centuries, were inspired by a growing 
love of luxury and elaboration, noticeable in all phases of Roman 
life during the centuries just mentioned. 

The manner of draping this toga as shown by this series of 
statues is also different; instead of passing under the right 
shoulder and arm, it comes over both, muffling the right arm to 
the wrist. It could, however, have been draped like the Arrin- 
gatore toga. It is doubtless this sort of toga to which Quintilian 


36 Similar stripes are to be found in Roman sculpture on garments other than the toga, 
as on the cloak of the centurion on one of the piers of the Arch of Septimius Severus. Also 
in the Metropolitan Museum there is a bronze portrait statue of a Roman boy draped in 
a himation on which there are stripes resembling those on the toga of the Arringatore, 
and it also has a similar border. See Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes (Metropolitan 
Museum), pp. 149 ff. No. 333; also “A Bronze Statue in the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art,” American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. XIX, 1915, pp. 121-128, pls. I-IV inclusive ; 
both by Gisela M. A. Richter. 


40) THE ROMAN TOGA 


refers immediately after his remark that in olden times there 
were no sinus. He says that the orators in those times must have 
used some other gesture, since their arms, like those of the 
Greeks, were confined by their garments.” Quintilian, it is true, 
Was writing particularly of the dress of orators, but the opening 
sentence of the paragraph from which the above quotation is 
taken, indicates that what he has to say concerning dress, does 
not apply alone to orators, though it is of greater importance to 
then | | 

The numerous extant statues on which the toga appears draped 
as on Figs. 9 and 10 offer fair evidence that this was the general 
if not the universal way of wearing this style of the toga, since 
it is hardly probable that all of these persons were orators. More- 
over, we find that nearly all of the succeeding forms of the toga 
were, at least occasionally, worn with a portion of the drapery 
drawn over the right shoulder and arm. 

The lower edge of this toga, Figs. 9 and 10, as it comes across 
the ankles and is carried up over the left arm, has practically 
the same outline as the lower edge of the Arringatore toga; 
its curves and proportions must, therefore, be similar, since it 
also resembles the Arringatore toga in all its parts. On the 
upper edge of the garment, however, a variation appears. On 
the Arringatore toga, it will be remembered, this edge is straight. 
The end of the toga between the feet of Fig. 9 shows the upper 
edge of the garment turned over from right to left; the corner 
is rounded and the upper edge as it ascends takes a slightly 


87 Quintilian, of. cit., XI, 3, 138, ““Itaque etiam gestu necesse est usos esse in principiis 
eos alio, quorum brachium, sicut Graecorum, veste continebatur.” 

8§ Quintilian, of. cit., XI, 137, “Cultus non est proprius oratoris aliquis, sed magis in 
oratore conspicitur. Quare sit, ut in omnibus honestis debet esse, splendidus et virilis: 
nam et toga et calceus et capillus tam nimia cura quam negligentia sunt reprehendenda.” 





RG. “x12 
A Portrait Statue in a Private 


Fic. 10. 
he Museo delle Terme. 


Rome. 


Fic. 9. 


£8 in t 


Portrait Statu 


Collection. 


"i Rome. 


10nt, 


Mosc 





Fic. 13. 





The Toga of Figs. 9, 10, and 11. 
The Large Toga of the Republican Period. 





THE TOGA OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD 41 


diagonal direction, indicating that the upper corner or corners 
of the toga are cut off by a slightly diagonal line. This detail is 
still more clearly shown on a statue in a private collection in 
Rome, Fig. 11, where the diagonal edge of the toga as it folds 
upon itself and ascends between the feet is unmistakable. 

In diagram Fig. 16 the space enclosed by the heavy line gives, 
according to the present study, the shape of this second form of 
the toga. The dotted line AB shows the extreme length of the 
garment; the smaller space enclosed by the dotted line is the 
form of the Arringatore toga (Fig. 7). 

Fig. 16 shows that this second form of the toga is simply an 
enlargement of the Arringatore toga. Had the lines from A 
and F respectively been extended to M, and those from B and E 
respectively been extended to O, this second toga would have 
had the same shape as the Arringatore toga, but would have 
been longer and considerably wider in proportion to its length. 
The change in shape consists in cutting off the triangular pieces 
AFM and BEO, which gives a convex shape to the upper edge 
of the toga. 

Why this change in shape? The statues themselves give the 
answer. By comparing Fig. 1 with Figs. 9 and to and 11, it will 
be seen that the heavy compact roll into which the upper edge 
of the garment is gathered on the Arringatore, and which 
comes under the right arm and diagonally across the breast and 
passes over the left shoulder has, in Figs. 9 and to and 11, 
given place to a broad band of folds which could only have been 
formed by easing or elongating the upper edge of the garment. 
Moreover, this upper edge as it falls over the left shoulder of 
Figs. 10 and 11 likewise indicates a looseness or fullness which 
would hardly be so pronounced unless the edge of the garment 


42 THE ROMAN TOGA 


were longer than the actual length of the garment itself, which, 
as we have seen was accomplished by cutting off the corners. As 
already suggested, this change made possible a greater grace 
and softness in the disposition of the folds. The necessity for 
lengthening the upper edge of the toga and the results attained 
by it will be more apparent in the succeeding forms of the 
garment. 

Many of the statues having this form of the toga, and in fact 
all forms of the toga, were only intended to be viewed from the 
front and sides, the back being left rough, or only roughly 
blocked out. In the cortile of the Museo delle Terme, however, 
there is a headless statue, now badly weathered, which belongs 
to this series of togated figures. The characteristic folds of the 
drapery in the back are worked out with admirable simplicity. 
Fig. 14. 

A reproduction of this toga with the shape given in Fig. 16 is 
shown on the living model, Figs. 12 and 13. The arrangement 
of the drapery corresponds to Figs. 9 and 1o respectively, and 
Fig. 15 shows the arrangement in the back, corresponding to 
Fig. 14. 

A detail noticeable on many of the togated figures of this 
series is the arrangement of the folds just over the left hip. If 
these sculptured folds are true to form, they could only have 
been produced by the garment being caught up in some way and 
held at this point, which could be done either by tucking it 
under the girdle of the tunic or by fastening it to the girdle. 

This detail with a varying degree of emphasis occurs on numer- 
ous sculptured figures; sometimes it is rendered as a decided 
catching up of the drapery, and in other cases, as in Fig. 11, it is 
so slightly indicated that it would seem to be merely an artistic 
convention, as indeed it may have been in many cases. 


9uoy 
‘<1 “Stq Jo MalA yorg ‘aWIa], a[[ap Oasnyy ay) UI aNjIeIS VW 
SI ‘Oly ‘br “OI 












oe 


ee 


Fic. 16. 
The Large Toga of the Republican Period. 


\ 








te 





Pic.217A. 
A Relief from the Ara Pacis. 
Alinart. Vatican. 





Gee 


Fic. 17B. 
A Relief from the Ara Pacis. 
Brogi. Florence. 


[I. 


THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 


In the latter part of the Republican period and in the early 
Empire, the form of the toga was again changed. ‘The numerous 
figures on the Ara Pacis, see Figs. 17a, b, c, d and e, furnish 
excellent examples of this third form of the toga. 

No small part of the enormous value of this monument for 
the study of the toga is due to the fact that it presents so many 
figures, and such a large number of slightly varying ways of 
wearing the toga; and illustrates the point already mentioned, 
that, in its minor details, the arrangement of the toga varied with 
each wearer and at each time it was put on. While the sculptor 
or sculptors of the Ara Pacis have inserted a good many arbitrary 
and unnaturally broken folds in the drapery, the characteristic 
folds and lines are strongly brought out, so that we have in 
these reliefs a good general statement of the senatorial toga at 
the time this monument was produced. 

The end of the toga on these reliefs does not lie on the floor as 
in Figs. 9 and 10, nor is the garment draped so low on the 
ankles. The end of the toga which hangs between the feet shows 
plainly that both the upper and lower edges of the garment 
have a sloping or slightly curved line. This detail is especially 
clear on the figure in the foreground at the extreme right of 
Fig. 17c and on all of those in Fig. 17b. This end of the toga 
on most of the figures of the Ara Pacis is finished with a loop 
similar to that on the Arringatore. Possibly in some cases a 
weight may have been attached to this cord, such as was some- 
times used on Roman and Greek garments. 


43 


44. THE ROMAN TOGA 


But the most noticeable change is in the upper edge of the 
toga, which has been still further eased or lengthened, so as to 
allow it to be brought loosely across the back of the neck, along 
the top of the shoulder and to fall in a curve well below the 
right hip, as on the central figure and the one at the extreme 
right in the foreground of Fig. 17a. Or it is brought up well 
over the right shoulder and forearm as in the second figures from 
the right in Figs. 17a and 17c; or again it is drawn up over the 
head as in the second figure from the left in Fig. 17a and the 
central figures in 17b and 17d. 

The curve thus formed by the drapery is accepted as the sinus 
to which reference is made in numerous literary passages. As 
usual, these references throw little or no light on the appearance 
of the feature in question nor on the way it is produced. Quin- 
tilian, as already quoted (note 1, Chapter I), says that the earlier 
form of toga had no sinus and after that the sinus were small. 
As the sinus shown on the Ara Pacis are as small as any of which 
we have clear evidence, we may conclude that we have here the 
small or short sinus to which Quintilian refers. 

These reliefs give evidence, such as we shall also find on later 
monuments, of the persistence of an earlier style side by side 
with one of later development. The second and fourth figures 
from the right in the foreground of 17b each wears a toga of 
practically the same shape and manner of draping as that of 
Figs. 9 and 10. The upper edge is perhaps eased a little more 
so as to enable the folds to fall more loosely and indicate the 
beginning of the sinus. | 

As there is nothing to cause us to suppose that these two per- 
sons are of a rank or status different from the other togated 
figures in the group, we can only conclude that we have here 





. 


17D 


Fic. 
iefs from the Ara Pac 


1S. 


Rel 


Florence. 


i. 


Brog 








FIG. 17E. 
A Relief from the Ara Pacis. 
Brogi. Florence. 


THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 45 


two conservative dressers who were slow to yield to what they 
considered the extremes of the prevailing style and continued to 
wear togas of the older fashion, making only the slight changes 
already mentioned. 

The second adult figure from the left in Fig. 17c shows that 
the left arm was not always bent at the elbow to support the 
toga, but might be dropped and part of the toga held up in 
the left hand. 

While the taste for elaborate dress already mentioned probably 
accounts for the development of the sinus, once it was added to 
the toga, it was put to practical use. As we see from the reliefs, it 
could be brought up over the shoulders for additional warmth 
or for protection against the weather. Regarding the drawing 
of the sinus over the head, references in literature are scanty. 
Since the emperor or other person offering a sacrifice or taking 
part in a religious rite is usually if not always represented with 
the sinus drawn over the head and as Romans in ordinary civilian 
dress are usually represented with the head bare, the belief is 
current that the sinus was only drawn over the head during a 
religious ceremony. The figures on the Ara Pacis in no way 
contradict this assumption, since the scene represented is, in part, 
a religious observance. But as the reliefs show a few laurel 
crowned heads covered, and a much greater number uncovered, 
the question as to just what the distinction was remains un- 
answered. 

The numerous literary references to the sinus as a place for 
concealing articles about one’s person have no particular bearing 
upon the present discussion, excepting as they prove the practical 
use made of this part of the garment. 


46 THE ROMAN TOGA 


| While this toga is more elaborate and complicated than the 

' one on Figs. g and 1o, there is, as a matter of fact, no great 

_ difference in the size of the two garments. Their length is about | 
the same and while the ends of the Ara Pacis togas, instead of. 
trailing between the feet, are well above the floor in each case, the 
length is taken up by draping the garment loosely under the ' 
right arm instead of bringing it closely around the neck as in 
Figs.gand io. 

A comparison of the form of the Ara Pacis toga with that of 
the toga on Figs. 9 and ro is shown in diagram, Fig. 18. The 
space enclosed by the heavy line is the form of the Ara Pacis toga, 
while the dotted line outlines the toga on Figs. 9 and 10. See 
Fig. 16. We see that the variations, as compared with the toga 
of Figs. 9 and 10 are, first, a considerable increase in the width; 
and, second, a much larger triangular section cut from the upper 
corners giving the upper edge of the toga a greatly increased 
convexity. Here again we see that had the lines from B and E 
been extended to O and the lines from A and 'F extended to M 
this Ara Pacis toga would have had practically the same shape as 
the Arringatore toga, but would have been much larger. A 
peculiarity of all the togas on these reliefs is the shortness of the 
lines Aa and Bb, that is the end of the toga hanging between 
the feet and the corresponding end in the back. On all of these 
figures this end appears to be almost a point, as if the lines AF 
and BE almost joined the curves at “a” and “b” respectively. 
This shape of the end of the toga appears occasionally on other 
sculptures, contemporaneous with those which show these .ends 
as being several inches in width. This variation is another proof 
that the toga at no time had an absolutely hard and fast shape. 








------{0 


wn a a a a = = oe = = pe ee = + = ee = eee ee 
--" et 


-—. 
ao aioe 
-_--— 





ns a a a a a a ae a a a a a a oe ee ee ee 


ee ee 


a 
SS 


tay BS a pre ah at ate ge ea 







Fic. 18. 
The Toga of the Ara Pacis. 





48 THE ROMAN TOGA 


This increased width makes it possible (and necessary) to fold 
the toga and allow the edge AFEB to form the sinus. The fold 
follows approximately the line AB, though naturally, in draping, 
this straight line is not maintained. 

In diagram 18, and in all diagrams of the forms of toga given 
in this volume, the end Aa is the end which hangs between the 
feet or legs in front of the body. If we conceive the diagram as 
showing the toga spread out and lying upon the page, the side 
which is uppermost would be placed next to the body of the 
wearer, and the sinus would be folded over so as to lie next to the 
page. Fig. 27b shows the reverse side, that is, the toga is turned 
over so that the folded sinus is uppermost. 

A reconstruction of this form of toga on a living model is shown 
by Figs. 19 and 20. The Ara Pacis reliefs show no full back 
view of any of the togated figures, but judging from the portions 
of the figures which we see and from the arrangement of the 
back of the toga on the figures previously discussed, the arrange- 
ment shown by Fig. 21 seems fully guaranteed. 3 

In Fig. 17c the second figure from the left furnishes further 
evidence regarding the catching up and fastening of the toga 
above the left hip. In view of the not infrequent appearance of 
this detail, the question arises as to whether it was ever customary 
to secure the toga by fastening it either to itself or to the tunic. 
On this point, literary references give us no help, and extant 
monuments show no brooch or visible means of fastening worn 
with the toga. Among the accessories of a Roman wardrobe, 
however, were pins resembling, in their general construction, the 
modern safety pin. Many of them are not ornamental, and the 
great number of them in present day museum collections prove 
that they were in common use, and nowhere would there appear 








FIG. 20. 
Reconstructions of the Toga of the Ara Pacis. 








is 





THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 49 


to have been greater need for them than in securing the cumber- 
some toga. On the other hand, the Romans were accustomed to 
wearing draped garments, and naturally managed them with less 
difficulty than is conceivable to us. But the case under discussion 
(and other instances might be cited) is a clear example of the 
toga attached in some way to some other part of the costume; and 
on statues of a later date, as we shall see, there is equally pace 
evidence that the toga is qeached at some point to itself, though, 
as in Fig. 17c the means of attachment is concealed. 

A wholly new feature in the draping of the toga makes its ap- 
pearance in these reliefs. In Fig. 17b on the first, third and fifth 
figures from the right, the edge of the toga as it comes from 
between the feet and ascends to the left shoulder is drawn over 
the sinus fold and forms a small loop or boss near the waist line 
in front of the body. This feature has been identified as the umbo 
referred to in a few literary passages.’ The further development 
of this feature will appear in the next style of toga to be con- 
sidered. 

Many of the persons represented on the Ara Pacis were ob- 
viously men of distinction and official position, and this brings up 
the question of the probable color_of the toga which they wore. 
The monuments give us no light on this matter, and the literary 
references by earlier writers are comparatively few and for the 
most part indefinite. 

White was apparently assumed to be the usual color and par- 
ticular comment is made only when some other color is used. 
Thus Cassius Dio tells us that Augustus commanded that no one 
but senators and those holding public offices should wear purple 


1See n. 18, Chap. III, also Tertullian, De Pallio, V; and Persius, V, 33. 


50 THE ROMAN TOGA 


clothing and that he did this because in certain cases it had been 
appropriated by private individuals.’ 

From this statement we may infer that the wearing of the 
purple toga was a privilege rather than an obligation; that it 
was forbidden to all except certain classes of persons, and while 
these persons were permitted to wear it, it is not at all certain 
that they were commanded to do so. However, as it was a mark 
of distinction, it was doubtless worn by those to whom it was al- 
lowed; and so we may be reasonably sure that there would have 
been purple togas in such a procession as that represented on the 
Ara Pacis. 

A dark-colored toga, the toga pulla, was worn on certain 
occasions.* ‘The color of this dark toga cannot be asserted posi- 
tively, but it was probably a dark shade of brown or gray. _ 
There was a color much used on garments among the Romans, 
according to extant wall paintings, which resembles a very dark 
reddish shade of modern purple. As we see this color today, 
it is much darker than the color which we accept as the purple 
of the Romans. It is possible that it has changed with age. But 
in a wall painting in the more recent excavations at Pompeii, 
there is a female figure wearing a full dress of this dark rich 
color, and in an adjacent painting similarly exposed, there is a 
tunic having stripes of the brighter color which we accept as 
Roman purple.* On the Coptic garments and textiles in the 
Victoria and Albert Museum there are instances of this color 
and it is described in the museum literature as purple, but it is so 
dark and dull that it now suggests a dark brown rather than 


2 Cassius Dio, XLIX, 16. 

3 See Festus, Pauli Excerpta, p. 237, Lindsay. 

¢ This painting has not yet been published, hence no more explicit reference to it can be 
given here. 


THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 51 


purple. The usual white toga could, by some process, be made 
exceedingly white and glistening. Such a toga—the toga can- 
dida—was worn by those seeking election to office.** They were 
therefore called candidati (candidates). 

While the Ara Pacis gives us no help on the question of color, 
it does furnish a clue to the solution of other problems, among 
them, that of the dress of Roman children, the toga of the flamen, 
and incidentally, of the toga praetexta. 

Among primitive peoples generally there is little difference 
in form between the garments of children and those of adults. 
Doubtless from the beginning of its existence the toga was worn 
by boys as well as by men, but it is not until after the development 
of the sinus that extant monuments tell us much about the dress 
of Roman children. On the Ara Pacis, Fig. 17e, we see children 
apparently from 4 to 10 or 12 years of age wearing togas longer 
and more cumbersome than those of their elders, and one of the 
children is a young girl.’ There are a number of extant statues 
in the round showing a similar toga on Roman boys. See Fig. 2<. 
Literature furnishes positive evidence that the toga worn. by 
these high born young Romans was the toga praetexta, or a toga 
with a purple border. Isidore defines this toga, the praetexta 
worn by boys, as the pallium which the sons of the nobility to 
the age of 16 years, in school, wore, from which, he says, they 
were called praetextati pueri, and adds that the word praetexta 
was used because these togas were edged with a wider purple 
border.* This definition, however, does not define, since the toga 


44 See Isidore, Orig., XIX, 24, 6. 

® See page 27 for mention of the wearing of the toga by women. 

6 Isidore, of. cit., XIX, 24, 16. “ Praetexta puerile est pallium quo usque ad sedecim annos 
pueri nobiles sub disciplinae cultu utebantur; unde et praetextati pueri appellati sunt. 
Dicta autem praetexta quia praetexebatur ei latior purpura.” 


52 THE ROMAN TOGA 


praetexta was not the garment of boys alone, though the toga of 
youths was probably distinguished by the wider border which 
Isidore mentions. At the age of sixteen the young Roman was 
permitted to wear the toga virilis,* which was the toga of man- 
hood and the badge of Roman citizenship. A special ceremony 
attended his investiture. [he toga given him at this time was 
white, and is therefore sometimes called the toga pura.” There- 
after, as we shall see, his right to wear a purple border or a 
colored toga depended upon his official position. 

A toga praetexta was granted as a privilege to certain officials 
whom Lucius Valerius, as quoted by Livy, enumerates, and 
argues the injustice of forbidding the use of purple to women. 
‘Shall we men have the use of the purple,” he says, “ being 
praetexta clad in magistracies and priesthoods and in priestly 
offices; shall our children wear purple-bordered togas; shall we 
permit the privilege of wearing the toga praetexta to the magis- 
trates of the colonies and borough towns, ‘and to the very lowest 
of them here in Rome, the magistri vicorum, and not only of 
wearing such an ornament while alive, but of being burned with 
it when dead; and shall we interdict the use of purple to women 
aloner’”’* 

As to the exact width of this purple border and its place on 
the toga after the appearance of the sinus, literature gives us 
no evidence and the existing monuments but little. The Arringa- 


6a See Cic., De Amicitia, I, 1. Pro Sest., LXIX, 144. Livy, XXVI, 19, 5. XLII, 34, 4. 

6b See Cic., Ad Att., IX, 61. V, 209. VI, 1. 

TLivy, XXXIV, Chap. 7, 2, “purpura viri utemur, praetextati in magistratibus, in 
sacerdotiis; liberi nostri praetextis purpura togis utentur; magistratibus in coloniis, 
municipiisque, hic Romae infimo generi, magistris vicorum, togae praetextae habendae 
ius permittemus, nec ut vivi solum habeant tantum insigne, sed etiam ut cum eo crementur 
mortui: feminis dumtaxat purpurae usu interdicemus? ”’ 





_ =— CS EO ae 





‘1aduod 


‘suyured [[@M V 
‘SS “OLY 





THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 53 


tore, as already stated, is the only statue (so far as I know) on 
which the toga is represented with a border. Probably borders 
were painted on togas on other statues and relief sculptures, but 
not one of them (of which I have any knowledge) retains more 
than a barely possible trace of paint on the toga.* Singularly 
enough, togated figures are very rare in extant ancient paintings. 
One single example is to be found at Pompeii. It is in the House 
of the Vettii; see Fig. 22. This is a purely decorative painting 
and the artist’s aim was artistic effect rather than realistic repre- 
sentation. The form and drapery of the toga are substantially 
the same as on the togated statues. There is a very deep purple 
border on the sinus, but there may well be doubt as to the correct- 
ness of the width of the border shown in this painting. pilie 
purple stripe on the tunic, visible on the right shoulder of the 
figure, is nearly twice the width of the stripe shown on this 
garment, so it is not improbable that there is a similar exaggera- 
tion in the width of the border of the toga.” On this slender 
evidence, therefore, our knowledge of the actual appearance of 
the purple border is based.” 


8 A few togated statues are said to have retained traces of paint, when first discovered. 
Notable among these are the so-called Labicana statue of Augustus (see Fig. 23 and 
Bull. della Com. Arch. . . . Roma XXXVIII, p. 99) and a statue of Titus in the Braccio 
Nuovo of the Vatican (see Amelung, Vatican Catalogue, I, 26, pl. IV). But if any of the 
stains visible on these statues to-day are the remains of paint, they are now too indefinite 
to be used as evidence. 

2 To be sure, the width of the purple stripe on the tunic was, to some extent, determined 
by the status of the wearer. 

10M, Léon Heuzey believed that a painting from the necropolis at Vulci (see his 
Histoire du costume antique, Fig. 126) furnishes further evidence that the purple border 
was on the edge of that part of the toga which forms the sinus. While it is possible that 
the garment shown in this painting is a toga praetexta, the evidence seems to me far from 
conclusive. However, as M. Heuzey has pointed out, the place for the border, from an 
aesthetic point of view is on the edge of the sinus, and added to this argument we have 
the wall painting in Pompeii, Fig. 22. 


54 THE ROMAN TOGA 


We have seen, in our discussion of the origin of the toga, that 
the praetexta was adopted at a very early period, and numerous 
literary passages might be cited to prove that its use was con- 
tinuous. Pliny states that is was used in the time of Tullus 
Hostilius and of Tarquinius; * and, coming down into the repub- 
lic, he tells of a centurion who having distinguished himself in 
the Cimbrian War (109-107 B. C.) received numerous honors, 
among which was the privilege of making a sacrifice in a toga 
praetexta.” ; 

The praetexta was, therefore, certainly used during the period 
to which the toga of the Arringatore belongs. That particular 
toga has a border, but as we have seen, there is a possibility 
that it may be a toga trabea instead of a toga praetexta; but 
there is no reason to doubt that the toga praetexta of that period 
had a similar border similarly attached to its lower edge, since 
such a decoration would not have been effective on the upper 
edge which is gathered in close compact folds. But when the 
toga was increased in size and the lower edge trailed about the 
ankles, the purple border was placed on a more effective and 
suitable part of the drapery which was the graceful, curving 
sinus. In view of the clear evidence of a border on the curving 
edge of the Arringatore toga there should be no difficulty in 
regard to such a border on the edge of the sinus of these later 
togas, even though that edge was not a straight line. 


11 Pliny, Nat. Hist., IX, 39 (63), “ Nam toga praetexta et latiore clavo Tullum Hostilium 
e regibus primum usum Etruscis devictis satis constat.” 

Also, XXXIII, 1, 4, 10, “ Sed a Prisco Tarquinio omnium primo filium, cum in praetextae 
annis occidisset hostem, bulla aurea donatum constat .. .” 

12 Pliny, Nat. Hist., XXII, 6, 11, “Invenio apud auctores eundem praeter hunc 
honorem adstantibus Mario et Catulo coss. praetextatum immolasse ad tibicinem foculo 
posito.” 





THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 55 


The theory has been advanced, however, that in order to be 

a praetexta, the purple border must be woven into, and be an 
actual part of the web of the toga itself; and therefore the edge 
of the sinus must have been straight, else the border could not 
‘have been woven upon it. The meaning of the verb praetexo 
and its use in literature do not support the first clause of this 
theory. It is used with reference to a border, but frequently 
where the border in question was not an actual part of the object 
to which it was applied. Thus, Tacitus says that the two coun- 
tries (Gaul and Germany) are bordered by the Rhine.” Pliny 
speaks of the mountains which border or surround certain races,” 
and Vergil speaks of the reeds with which the Mincius borders 
its banks and of the ships at anchor, whose sterns bordered the 
curving shore.” 

In each of these four references, a form of the verb praetexo 
is used, though in neither case was the border a part of the 
object with which it was connected. An object to which the 
term praetexta is applied must surely be bordered; and the bor- 
der can be woven upon the edge, but it can just as well be attached 
in some other way. 


13 See Heuzey, of. cit., pp. 245 ff. 
14 Tacitus, Germania, 34, 1, 4, “ Utraeque nationes usque ad Oceanum Rheno prae- 
texuntur .. .” 
15 Pliny, Nat. Hist., VI, 25 (29), “Quod Parthos attinet, semper fuit Parthyaea in 
radicibus montium saepius dictorum, qui omnes eas gentes praetexunt.” 
16 Vergil, Ecl., VII, 12, 
Hic viridis tenera praetexit harundine ripas 
Mincius... 
Vergil, Aeneid, VI, 3, 
PU geek cis aes sks ; tum dente tenaci 
Ancora fundabat naves et litora curvae 
Praetexunt puppes. 


56 THE ROMAN TOGA 


The last clause of this theory—that the border could only 
have been woven upon a straight edge—is easily contradicted 
by actual results produced by hand weaving. An experiment 
undertaken at the writer’s request proved that on a hand loom a 
border can readily be woven on either or both edges of a web 
having the shape here given as that of the imperial toga, or 
other similar togas.*" 

The weaving of this border is somewhat tedious and requires 
a good degree of skill, but we have ample proof in the Coptic 
and other ancient textiles that the ancient weavers were exceed- 
ingly skillful. We also have convincing evidence that in Roman 
industries in which the abundant and often highly skilled slave 
labor was used, the time and work required to accomplish a 
desired object was scarcely taken into the reckoning. 

Moreover, the toga was of durable material and there were 
long intervals between the changes in its style, so that even a 
high Roman official would need but few of them during his 
whole lifetime. We may, therefore, conclude that the weaving 
of the border upon either the curving or diagonal edge of the 
Roman toga was not only possible but wholly probable. 

In the passage from Livy quoted in note 7 of this chapter, 
the priesthood is mentioned as a class to whom the toga praetexta 
was permitted. Elsewhere, Livy, relating the incident of Caius 
F'laccus, states that the praetexta was the privilege of the flamines. 
This person in his youth had led a debauched life, and incurred 
the displeasure of even his closest relatives. He was chosen 
flamen by Publius Licinius, chief pontifex, and the duties of 
this sacred office had such an wholesome effect, that he com- 


17 For this experiment the writer is indebted to Mrs. Lawrence H. Baker, who has in 
preparation at the Johns Hopkins University, a study of ancient looms and weaving. 


THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS $7 


pletely reformed and regained the esteem, not only of his own 
family but of the conservative patrician class generally. This 
gave him courage to demand a seat in the senate, originally the 
privilege of the flamines, but which for years had been denied 
them on account of their worthless character. Therefore, when 
he appeared in the senate the praetor led him out, whereupon, 
Livy says, ‘‘ He demanded back the ancient privilege of his 
priesthood, a seat in the senate which was given together with 
the toga praetexta and the curule chair to the office of flamen.” * 
This episode occurred about the year 209 B. C. 

There has been much uncertainty on the part of modern writers 
concerning the toga of the flamen,”’ due to the fact that Latin 
writers have mentioned in connection with this toga, another 
garment worn by flamines, the /aena. Varro in his dictionary 
prepared in the first century B. C. says, “ /aena, so-called because 
it contains much wool [lana] even like two togas.” *® Some 
writers have understood from this definition that the laena was 
twice the thickness of the toga." But Varro’s expression is ex- 
plicit, “even like two togas” and Servius writing about 450 
years after Varro compiled his dictionary evidently accepted the 
latter interpretation. He says” “ Laena; a sort of cloak. But it 


18 Livy, XXVII, 8, “Flamen vestustum ius sacerdotii repetebat; datum id cum toga 
praetexta et sella curuli ei flaminio esse.” 

19 See Helbig, Toga und Trabea in Hermes, XXXIX, 1904, pp. 161 ff. Also C. Julian, 
“ Flamen” in Daremberg et Saglio, of. cit., Vol. III, p. 1167. 

20 Varro, De Lingua Latina, V, 133 (Goetz und Schoell, Leipsic, 1910) “L(a)ena, quod 
de lana multa, duarum etiam togarum instar.” 

21 See Helbig, Toga und Trabea, op. cit., pp. 165 ff. Also Smith, Dict. of Greek and 
Roman Antiquities, 3d ed. Vol. I, p. 3. 

22 Servius, 4d Aen. IV, 262, “Laena: genus vestis. Est autem proprie toga duplex, 
amictus auguralis . . . Alii amictum rotundum, alii togam duplicem in qua flamines 
sacrificant infibulati ... Togam autem duplicem, quam purpuream debere esse non du- 


,99 


bium est, hoc versu declarat: ‘Tyrioque ardebat murice laena’. 


58 THE ROMAN TOGA 


is really a double toga, the garment of augurs,” again he says, 
‘some Say it is a circular garment, others a double toga in which 
the flamines, brooch-fastened, sacrificed.” Then after an extended 
discussion of the laena he adds that there is no doubt that it is 
a double toga which should be purple, and quotes a line from the 
passage in the Aeneid which he is discussing, to the effect that the 
laena glowed with Tyrian purple. 

Cicero states that on one occasion when the plebeians were 
being incited to revolt, the Consul Marcus Popilius, who was 
also a flamen, was sacrificing at the time, wearing the laena, and, 
the sedition being announced, he went out into the crowd just as 
he was and quelled the disturbance both by his authority and by 
oratory.” 

Since Cicero takes care to state that Popilius was sacrificing 
in a laena, and that he went out into the crowd just as he was, 
it is evident that the laena of the flamen was a purely sacrificial 
garment and was worn only while the flamen was actually offer- 
ing a sacrifice, and therefore the appearance of Popilius in the 
street wearing it was worthy of comment. The reference pre- 
viously cited by Livy is positive evidence that a toga praetexta 
was the usual garment of flamines, as it was of senators and 
magistrates. We have, however, evidence that the toga praetexta 
of the flamen differed both in draping and probably in shape 
from that of other Roman officials. 


23 Cicero, Brutus, 56, “Licet aliquid etiam de M. Popilii ingenio suspicari, qui cum 
consul esset eodemque tempore sacrificium publicum cum laena faceret, quod erat flamen 
Carmentalis, plebei contra patres concitatione et seditione nuntiata, ut erat laena amictus, 
ita venit in contionem seditionemque cum auctoritate tum oratione sedavit.” 


THE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 59 


On the Ara Pacis, there are the figures of several flamines, one 
of which is perfectly preserved.** See the flamen on left hand 
side of relief, Fig. 17d. A little observation will convince one 
that the toga on this figure is actually double; not only is the 
edge worked to indicate this, but in the curve which crosses the 
middle of the body and just below the left hand, the two thick- 
nesses fall distinctly apart. The straight edge of the portion 
which hangs between the legs, and the curve which ascends the 
left leg, crosses the left wrist and hangs down the left side, 
warrant the conclusion that this toga as it is folded has approxi- 
mately the shape of the Arringatore toga; that is, it is like two 
Arringatore togas joined together along their straight edges. 

The first step in draping this toga is the same as that of the 
Arringatore (see Fig. 5) : then the toga is brought over the right 
shoulder, instead of under it; but instead of muffling the right 
arm the edge is brought up and rests on the right fore-arm. 
The toga is then draped loosely across the breast and front of the 
body, and is brought over the left shoulder and fore-arm, the end 
hanging down the back. This end terminating in a loop of 
threads, such as we have noticed on the other togas in these reliefs, 
is plainly visible. 

We have here, then, a clear and definite representation of a 
flamen, not in the act of sacrifice, hence wearing, not the laena 
(which was a brooch-fastened garment), but the toga praetexta— 


24 While existing illustrations of the toga of the flamen are not numerous, a few of 
them exist in sculpture in the round. In the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek there is a statue in 
the round of Antoninus Pius (museum No. 544a), in the toga of a flamen but owing to the 
restorations it has undergone the statue throws but little light on the arrangement of 
the toga in the back. Also there was formerly in the Palazzo Scripante in Rome a similar 
statue which was restored as St. Joseph. It was sold to a Florentine antiquarian in 1878. 
See W. Amelung, Rom. Mitth., XII, 1897, p. 74. 


60 THE ROMAN TOGA 


the privilege of his office. The edges of this toga, it being folded 
so as to be double, are circular yet one, and possibly both of these 
edges had a purple border. 

In view of this evidence regarding the form of the praetexta 
of the flamen, the comments of Servius (see note 22) are espe- 
cially interesting. He wrote his commentary in the late 4th or 
early sth century of our era. For more than half a century the 
pagan temples had been closed by imperial edict, and even prior 
to that event, the temple ritual had doubtless lost much of its 
ceremonial. The dress of the flamen was, therefore, a question 
for archaeological discussion even to Servius. He had doubtless 
seen in sculpture and painting flamines represented, sometimes 
wearing a laena, sometimes the double toga praetexta, and in 
accordance with the unscientific method of the time, he confuses 
the two garments. 





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THE IMPERIAL TOGA 


At the very period of the Ara Pacis reliefs, Augustus, if we 
may trust the extant portrait statues of him, was wearing a toga 
of the same general style of draping as those shown on the Ara 
Pacis, but much larger and consequently more elaborate in ap- 
pearance, see Fig. 23. On this particular statue there is an over- 
elaboration of folds, many of which are arbitrarily and con- 
ventionally rendered. But the general lines of the drapery, the 
way in which it falls in curves and folds by its own weight, giving 
the appearance of richness and pliability, are well reproduced. 

The front end of the toga as it trails on the ground between 
the feet and lies on the left instep closely resembles this part of 
the drapery in Fig. 9. As this elaborate toga appears on the 
statues of emperors of the century and a half following Augustus, 
I shall call it the “imperial toga,” though, apparently, the wear- 
ing of it was not confined to royalty. It seems more than probable 
that this massive garment was only worn on ceremonial occasions, 
as it is scarcely credible that a white woolen garment with the 
end trailing on the ground would have been worn ordinarily 
on the streets of Rome. According to Suetonius, Augustus him- 
self was not an extremist in dress, his togas being neither close 
nor full.* A shorter toga, such as we shall find on the Trajanic 
reliefs, is a much more plausible garment for every day wear. 
The deep sinus, however, continued in vogue, and as we shall 
see, became the main part of later forms of the toga. 


1 Suetonius, Augustus, LXXIII. .. . “togis neque restrictis, neque fusis . . .” 


61 


62 THE ROMAN TOGA 


Fig. 26 is representative of an enormous series of these heavily 
togated statues. On this statue the folds and edges of the drapery 
are more elastic than on Fig. 23, but there is an exaggeration of 
the end of the garment between the feet, where it appears as a 
huge bundle of folds, whose disposition as it ascends the front 
of the body would have been impossible. The reasonable ex- 
planation of this exaggeration is that it served to support and 
protect the feet and to give weight and stability to the lower 
part of the statue, which, with its mass of drapery, was exceed- 
ingly top heavy. Like other such devices, when once introduced, 
this one became a convention, though not a universal one, and 
appears often in relief sculptures where it was not needed for 
support. 

The impression given by the togas on both Figs. 23 and 26 
is of a soft fine clinging fabric having none of the wiriness 
characteristic of so much of our modern textiles. But not all 
togas were of the same texture producing the numerous fine folds 
of these two togas. Fig. 24 shows drapery having an entirely 
different appearance. The rendering of it on this particular 
statue is Greek rather than Roman in spirit, and in judging the 
texture of the fabric one must not be misled by the sculptor’s 
individual manner of treating it. It is true that the folds are 
broader and less numerous than on many togated statues, but even 
so, the fabric, though doubtless heavier than that represented 
in Figs. 23 and 26, must have been of comparatively light weight. 
Had it been of any considerable thickness the number of folds 
shown on the shoulder would have been impossible while those 
resting on the left fore-arm would have been intolerably clumsy. 

Very fine, thin and even transparent fabric became popular 
with foppish dressers but was condemned by the more conserva- 


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THE IMPERIAL TOGA 63 


tive Romans and by commentators of Roman customs. Diodorus 
after contrasting the simplicity of early Roman life with the 
luxury which followed says, that in accordance with this deca- 
dence, the younger generation wore in the market place, garments 
which were remarkable for their softness, and which were trans- 
parent, and in their delicacy resembled women’s garments.” 

Varro speaks deprecatingly of togas so transparent that they 
did not conceal the purple stripes on the tunic,* and Ovid refers 
to a toga of finest thread.* No statue has been preserved to us, 
if indeed one was ever made, of a person wearing one of these 
extremely diaphanous togas. 

That the form of the imperial toga is practically the same 
as that of the toga of the Ara Pacis reliefs is too evident to 
require argument. Diagram, Fig. 27a, gives us its form and 
proportions as compared with the toga of the Ara Pacis reliefs, 
whose development from the Arringatore toga is shown by 
Figs. 16 and 18. Fig. 27a shows that the imperial toga is longer 
than the toga of the Ara Pacis reliefs and that the sinus is much 
deeper; that is, the imperial toga is the wider of the two, and 
a still larger corner is taken off, permitting a greater width 
of fabric to be folded over to produce the sinus. It will be 
readily seen that the greatest increase in size is in the depth 
of the sinus. Naturally, this change greatly increases the length 
of the edge of the sinus and makes possible the deep graceful 
umbo. 


2 Diodorus, Fragmenta, XXXVI, iii. 4. (Teubner, Dindorf), dxodovdws dé rodro.s of 
véou Kara THY dyopay Epdpovy ecOHTas Siapdpous Mey TALs panrakdrnor, Siapavels 6€ Kai KaTa THY 
NerroryTa Tais yuvarkelars TapEeupepers. 

8 Varro, Modius, VIII, Riese, Leipsic 1865. “Quam storum, quorum vitreae togae osten- 
tant tunicae clavos.” 

4 Ovid, Ars Am., III, 445, “ Nec toga decipiat filo tenuissima . . 


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The Imperial Toga. 





66 THE ROMAN TOGA 


All of the foregoing illustrations of the imperial toga give 
plain evidence of the shaping of the sinus edge, excepting Figs. 
25 and 26 in which the device above referred to of the heavy 
supporting column of folds between the feet, has been employed. 
An overwhelming number of examples might be cited as clearly 
showing that the edge of the sinus is a diagonal line, but Figs. 28 
and 29a and b are representative. In Fig. 28 it will be observed 
that the upper or sinus edge, as it ascends along side of the right 
leg, produces an undulating line, similar to that produced by the 
corresponding (purple-bordered) edge of the toga on the living 
model, Fig. 31a. Now this edge of the toga measures itself with 
the extreme length of the toga, and as it lies upon the length of 
the toga this outer edge must be longer than the real length of 
the toga in order to produce this undulating line. 

Naturally the evidence of the elongation of this line does not 
always appear on the same part of every statue. For instance, in 
Figs. 23 and 24 this edge does not form undulations between the 
feet because its additional length is used in drawing the sinus 
over the head and also in permitting the lowest part of the curve 
of the sinus to fall loosely against the knee. But it suited the 
wearer in Fig. 28 (or the sculptor) to draw this edge of the 
sinus up so as to produce a heavy curving ridge of folds above 
the right knee, and allow the edge of the sinus to produce the 
rippling line between the feet. If this statue had been worked 
out in the back and the drapery rendered with the same degree 
of realism as appears in the front, the edge of the toga as it hangs 
from the left shoulder would probably have produced an undu- 
lating line similar to that which appears in Fig. 29b, which is 
the back view of Fig. 29a. On this statue the edge of the toga 
between the feet has been broken but it evidently had little or 





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THE IMPERIAL TOGA 67 


no undulations. The edge of the sinus curve across the knee is 
drawn into folds, though not as deep as those on Fig. 28; the 
umbo is considerably restricted,’ and as the drapery hangs down 
from the left shoulder in the back it forms the rippling line 
which appears in Fig. 29b.° These details will be further illus- 
trated in the reproduction of the imperial toga on the living 
model, to which we now proceed. 

Fig. 30 shows, on the living model, an imperial toga having 
the same form and proportions as shown in diagram Fig. 27a. In 
this instance the reconstructed toga is provided with a purple 
border which is placed on the sinus in accordance with Fig. 22. 
The width of this border, as previously explained, is not, and 
cannot be guaranteed. 

A clear comprehension of the disposition of the various parts 
of this toga as it is draped on the human figure is necessary 
to an understanding of the subsequent changes which took place 
and the forms which resulted from them. For this reason, we 
shall consider the manner of draping, not only in connection 
with Figs. 31a and b, which illustrate the process, but also in 
connection with diagram, Fig. 27b. 


5 This statue has undergone repairs, but none that affect the details under discussion. 

6 In view of the clear evidence above presented as to the general shape of the toga, it 
seems needless to enter into further discussion of the theory that the shape of the toga 
was a complete semi-circle or segment of a circle and that the upper or sinus edge was a 
straight line. 

| Proof of the absolute fallacy of this theory is afforded by the draping of a semi-circle 

| (or a segment of a huge circle) on a living model. See Heuzey, of. cit., Fig. 125. This 

| is a photographic illustration, which is the only kind that can be accepted as evidence for 
the reconstruction of garments. The full ruffle formed by the toga on the model’s left side, 
the cramped and restricted sinus, and the considerable length of drapery which apparently 
lies on the floor behind the model, all attest the incorrectness of the form. 


68 THE ROMAN TOGA 


Before considering this diagram, I stress the statement that 
the location of the various parts of the toga on the body as 
indicated by Fig. 27b are approximate and not absolute; and 
I repeat what I have previously said, that it is scarcely possible 
that any toga was ever draped twice in precisely the same lines. 
Fig. 27b and the discussion which follows aim to give a general 
statement of the draping of the toga and not to establish hard 
and fast lines to be followed. 

The toga shown in Fig. 27b is the same as in Fig. 27a. The 
upper or sinus portion has been folded over, and the toga 
is now ready to be placed upon the wearer. The side which we 
conceive as lying next to the page is placed next to the body, 
with the end Aa lying between the feet. While for convenience 
the toga is folded along the line AB, this line is not rigidly 
maintained, and in some parts of the drapery it is wholly ignored. 

In draping this toga, it is first placed on the shoulder exactly 
as was the Arringatore toga, Fig. 5, excepting that instead of 
having only a few inches of fabric along the straight line AB 
gathered into folds and placed on the left shoulder, the whole 
width of the sinus section, JK has also been included in this 
bundle of irregular folds which rest on the shoulder approxi- 
mately at point K producing the effect shown on the left side of 
the model in Fig. 31a. The bordered edge of the sinus AJ 
being longer than the line AK falls in ripples or undulations as 
appear in Fig. 31a. 

The lower section of the toga is brought up and passes over 
the left fore-arm at about point Z. Let us bear in mind that 
there has now been gathered up in folds on the left shoulder, the 
fabric represented by JK, which on a man of average height 
would mean a width of fully one and one-half yards, and in 





Fic. 30. 
A Reconstruction of an Imperial Toga. 


. 





The Draping of the Imperial Toga. 


FIG. 31A. 


yoerenatas 
Satara 








THE IMPERIAL TOGA 69 


addition there is included the original few inches of the under 
section of the toga along the line AB; also, we note the con- 
siderable amount of fabric which is gathered up over the left 
fore-arm at Z. 

The toga along the line KH is then brought diagonally across 
the back, passing under the right arm about midway between the 
points K and H;; the bordered edge of the sinus passes from the 
top of the left shoulder across the back of the neck, lies on top 
of the right shoulder and descends along the right upper arm. 
The sinus section in the back is therefore turned up upon itself. 
See right shoulder of model in Fig. 31a, also back view of toga, 
Figs. 32 and 33. The remaining portion of KH is then brought 
diagonally across the breast. The sinus section is gathered into 
folds along the line HG and with it a portion of the under 
section of the toga at H. This is illustrated by the action of 
the assistant in Fig. 31b. This second accumulation of folds, 
duplicating the one we have seen at point K, is also placed on 
the left shoulder. The lower section of the toga is then caught 
up and brought over the left fore-arm at about point X, so that 
the folds at X lie on the arm above the folds at Z, already placed 
there. The remaining portion of the toga from points H and G 
to the end Bb is then arranged in the group of folds which hang 
down the left side of the back. See Figs. 32 and 33. These 
folds are not schematic, but in a general way they follow the 
diagonal line BG. Naturally the fold BH is entirely abandoned 
in the folds hanging down from the left shoulder in the back.’ 
The purple-bordered edge may hang straight from the shoulder 


7 In the toga used in Figs. 30, 31a and b and 32 there is a seam along the line AB and 
on Fig. 32. This seam may be seen crossing diagonally the lower part of this group of 


folds. 
7 


70 THE ROMAN TOGA 


as in Fig. 32; or by a slightly different arrangement of the sinus 
it may form undulations as does the corresponding edge of 
Fig. 29b. The edge EFG surrounds the right side of the body 
and ascends the left side in front, forming the sinus. In Fig. 31b, 
the model with his right hand is drawing up the fullness of the 
edge AJ to form the loop known as the umbo. 

The arrangement in the back, resulting from this drapery, is 
shown by Fig. 32. Like the series of statues of which Figs. 9 
and 10 are examples, these imperial togated figures are often 
not worked at all in the back, and those that are worked are 
usually treated in a sketchy manner or merely blocked out. Fig. 
33, which is the back of Fig. 25, is among the best sculptured 
representation of the back of the toga (see also Fig. 29b). While 
the sculptor has indulged in the usual artistic license in rendering 
the drapery, the general disposition of it is well shown—the 
long folds hanging from the left shoulder, the curving folds on 
the right side, and the sinus section turned up over the right 
shoulder—all of which correspond in general to the disposition 
of the same parts of the drapery in Fig. 32. 

The size which the toga attained along with the development 
of the sinus, and more particularly the evidence already cited 
as to the cutting off of the corners in order to produce the sinus, 
naturally raises the question as to how the toga was made. Was 
it woven all in one piece or was it woven in separate pieces which 
were sewed together? Was it shaped in the weaving or was it 
cut to the desired shape? 

Those skilled in hand weaving know that a web having the 
shape of diagrams Figs. 18, 27a, 39, etc., can be woven on a hand 
loom, and this was demonstrated by the experiment already re- 
ferred to (see note 17, Chap. II). The weaving of a web of 





PiGin4'3: 
Back View of Fig. 25. 


Fic. 32. 
Back View of Fig. 30. 





THE IMPERIAL TOGA 71 


the size of the imperial toga is considered impossible on a 
modern hand loom. Existing textiles prove that the ancient 
weavers probably using an upright loom often wove a wider web 
than is convenient or practicable on the modern horizontal hand 
loom. One of the widest specimens of ancient weaving in the 
Victoria and Albert Museum is a tunic with sleeves, woven all in 
one piece. Its width, including the sleeves, is six feet, seven 
inches.* As the sleeves are very large, this great width was 
required for about one-third the entire length of the tunic, and 
the weaving of it must have been exceedingly laborious. 

The reconstructed imperial toga, diagram Fig. 27a and Fig. 30, 
which is of proper proportions for a man of average height, has 
a width (line cd) of nine feet ten inches or over one-half more 
than the greatest width of the tunic mentioned above. The weav- 
ing of such an enormous web, even if possible, would have been 
needless since there is no disadvantage in having a seam through 
the middle of the toga,” and numerous togated statues give evi- 
dence that such a seam actually existed. 

At the intact corner of the toga of the Arringatore we have 
noticed a loop evidently made of the ends of threads left after 
the cord which surrounds the toga was completed. There are 
representations in art of a piece of cloth as it comes from the 
loom with long threads hanging from each corner.” A loop or 
tassel formed of these threads often appears at the corners of 
rectangular mantles. From all this evidence we may conclude 


8 See pp. go-1 and pl. I, Vol. I, Catalogue of Textiles from Burying Grounds in Egypt 
(Victoria and Albert Museum), A. F. Kendrick. 

The person who attempts the draping of the toga at the present day will find this 
seam a decided advantage. 

10 In the new excavations at Pompeii (not yet published) there is a wall painting of a 
fuller’s shop in which there is a tunic with these threads at the corners. 


72 THE ROMAN TOGA 


that it was the usual custom to finish in this way the corners of a 
piece of cloth intended for a specific garment. ‘This finishing 
touch being at the corners was, therefore, at the end of a selvage 
edge. 

On a very large number of extant togated statues, this loop 
appears, and always on the ends of the toga at a place corre- 
sponding to some point on the line Aa of diagram Fig. 27a, and 
where the statue is worked in detail in the back, on the line Bb, 
and often near the point where the diagonal edge of the sinus 
begins. While it cannot be asserted as an absolute fact that these 
loops mark the end of a selvage edge (and therefore, on the toga, 
the end of a seam) the evidence cited makes it wholly probable. 
| If a toga were woven in two sections, so that there would be a 
seam parallel to the line AB of Fig. 27a, neither section would 
need be more than five feet wide, which was not an unusual 
width for ancient textiles. The cutting required would be the 
cutting of the warp threads, leaving ends long enough to finish 
the edges of the web. 

A few sculptured figures show us some of the ways in which 
this difficult costume was managed when the wearer was seated. 
See Figs. 34a and b. The position in Fig. 34a is suitable for 
formal occasions. The toga is draped in the usual way. The 
end of the toga which hangs from the left shoulder down the 
back, when the wearer is standing, is here brought from the 
shoulder down back of the left upper arm, under the wrist, and 
across the left thigh, the extreme end falling between the legs. 
In this way, the folds on the left shoulder are not disturbed and 


11 See Figs. 17a, b, c, and d; also the entire group of portrait statues in vestibule of 
National Museum at Naples. Other examples too numerous to mention might also be cited. 
For this detail on the end of the toga in the back see also Figs. 29b and 33. 


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THE IMPERIAL TOGA 73 


when the wearer rises, the drapery, with slight rearrangement, 
falls into proper position. 

Fig. 34b shows a pose that is easy and intimate. The part 
of the toga which normally hangs from the left shoulder down 
the back, has been entirely removed from the shoulder and 
doubled upon itself so that part of it forms a loop that lies across 
the left thigh. The remaining length falls between the knees, 
with the end hanging in front of the left ankle. The opposite 
end of the toga hangs between the feet and just back of the 
lect heel.” 

The length of the toga can here be easily traced and closely 
estimated. Beginning at the end in front of the left ankle, we 
see that the upper or sinus edge of the toga must pass along the 
left leg, around the loop into which the toga is folded on the 
left thigh, thence under the right wrist and up along the right 
arm and shoulder, across the back of the neck, down the left 
side of the breast, around the curve of the umbo, and thence to 
the end which hangs back of the left heel. A little calculation 
will prove that this entire length on a man average size cannot 
be much in excess of four and a half yards (thirteen and a half 
feet) which is about the length of the toga on the living model, 
Figs. 30 and 36, and this toga when arranged as shown in the 
relief produces the same effect. 

The draping..of.the.toga was a serious business. Macrobius 
describing the fastidious Hortensius, says that he was clothed 
with care, even with elegance, and in order that he might go out 
well dressed he looked at himself in the mirror and placed the 


12 This figure clearly contradicts the theory that the imperial toga had a length of more 
than eighteen feet as asserted by M. Heuzey. See Heuzey, op. cit., Fig. 123 (p. 238). 


74 THE ROMAN TOGA 


toga on his body so that a graceful knot drew up the folds, ar- 
ranging them, not by chance, but with care; and the sinus by its 
arrangement flowing down surrounded the outline of the side. 
Once when he had arranged it with great care, he brought 
charges against his colleague who brushed against him in a nar- 
row passage and destroyed the arrangement of his toga; and he 
thought it a crime that the folds should be moved from their 
place on his shoulder.” 

The statues themselves give evidence that the necessity of 
securing the toga became somewhat imperative, for, following 
the period of the Flavian emperors, there are numerous statues, 
busts and reliefs showing that the loose umbo had been aban- 
doned and in its stead, the sinus, gathered into irregular folds 
is drawn well over the left shoulder in such manner as to give a 
degree of security to the folds which pass over the shoulder and 
hang down the back.** This manner of draping the toga is par- 
ticularly characteristic of the sculptured figures of the Anto- 
nines, and there were numerous slightly varying forms of it 
(see Fig. 35). That this arrangement of the toga was produced 
by merely changing the drapery and not by altering the form, 
is proven by Fig. 36 which is the same toga as is shown in Fig. 


30, but draped to correspond with Fig. 35. The only difference 


18 Macrobius, Saturnalia, III, 13, 4 and f. ‘‘Fuit enim vestitu ad munditiem curioso, 
et ut bene amictus iret, faciem in speculo quaerebat, ubi se intuens togam corpori sic adpli- 
cabat, ut rugas non forte sed industria locatas artifex nodus astringeret et sinus ex con- 
posito defluens modum lateris ambiret. Is quondam cum incederet elaboratus ad speciem, 
collegae de iniuriis diem dixit, quod sibi in angustiis obvius offensu fortuito structuram 
togae destruxerat et capital putavit, quod in humero suo locum ruga mutasset.” 

14’The date of the first appearance of this manner of draping the toga, like most other 
j| changes in style, cannot be definitely fixed. It may have appeared even during the 
_Flavian period, but judging from the extant statues and busts its general use belongs to 
i a little later date. 


ee a 











HiGieaisy 
A Relief of the Antonine Period, in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. 
Alinari. Rome. 


oe 





Fic. 36. 
A Reconstruction of an Imperial Toga of the Antonine Period. 





Fic. 37. 
A Relief from the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum. 
ciont. 


Mos 








ere ra sree 





~~ —— 





THE IMPERIAL TOGA 75 


is in the length of the garment; the end hanging between the 
feet in Fig. 35 instead of trailing, is well above the floor, while 
the togas in other reliefs of the Antonine Period are still shorter.” 
This shorter toga was evidently popular even in Trajan’s time; 
see Fig. 37 which is a detail of a relief from Trajan’s Arch at 
Beneventum. In this relief, the toga of the emperor, as it crosses 
the right leg is considerably above the shoe top, while that of 
each of the two men facing him is half way between the knee and 
ankle. The sinus, however, is longer and fuller than is usual 
on the figures of Augustus and the Flavian Caesars. The person 
at the extreme right in the relief, Fig. 37, has caught up the 
sinus of his toga and holds it in his left hand. This shows us 
the beginnings of a style which became a marked feature of 
later forms of the toga. 

But another method of disposing of the mass of toga fabric on 
the left shoulder and breast came into use about the same time 
as the style shown in Fig. 35, or perhaps a little later. The 
style in question consisted of heavy folded bands; the first ap- 
pearing in the front or at one side of the breast, encircles the 
upper part of the left shoulder; the second, following the edge 
of the sinus ascends the left side of the body in front and dis- 
appears under the first just in front of the left shoulder. Some- 
times this second folded band is wanting, the edge of the sinus 
being arranged as in the draperies already considered. These 
folded bands appear on a very large number of portrait busts, 
where, as a rule, they are conventionalized and exaggerated. 
Moreover, a large proportion of the busts having these folded 
bands are later than the period we are now considering (the 2nd 


15 See reliefs from a monument of Marcus Aurelius on the Arch of Constantine; E. 
Strong, Roman Sculpture, Pls. XCI, 8 and XCII, 12. 


76 THE ROMAN TOGA 


century A. D.) and the toga represented on them was doubtless 
one of the later forms, with which, as we shall see, the folded 
bands were more constantly used than with the imperial toga of 
the second century. 

On Figs. 38a and b the form of these folded bands is shown 
with a fair degree of realism, but on the former their thickness 
is exaggerated. The busts alone offer practically no solution 
of these seemingly mysterious folds; but fortunately they appear 
on an occasional figure in relief sculpture, where the whole toga 
is represented, and on a few full length figures in the round. On 
these statues it may be seen by a little observation, that the folded 
band which lies along the edge of the sinus on the left side 
of the body is formed by beginning at the edge of the sinus 
and folding the cloth back and forth upon itself until all of 
the fabric which, on Fig. 35, is gathered into the cluster of 
irregular folds, is taken up into the folded band. And, since this 
folded band ascending the left side of the body is accounted for, 
it is obvious that the folded band which crosses the breast and 
surrounds the left shoulder is made by similarly folding the 
opposite part of the sinus, or the portion which in Fig. 35 is 
brought out over the point of the shoulder to hold the toga ‘in 
place. | 

A crude relief, showing the toga draped in this way, appears 
on an early Christian sarcophagus in the Church of S. Saba in 
Rome. See Fig. 40. A crudity which appears in many reliefs of 
the grade of workmanship of this sarcophagus is the childish 
rendering of the crease which the folded band naturally 
forms as it comes from under the toga in front or at the side of 
the breast as the case may be; see “A” on Fig. 38a. In Fig. 40 
and other reliefs of its class, this crease appears as an unintelli- 


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Fic. 39. d 
Imperial Toga with Folded Bands. 





® 





FIG. 40. 
A Relief on a Sarcophagus in the Church of S. Saba. 
Mosciont. Rome. 


THE IMPERIAL TOGA 77 


gible little slot, and it has added to the confusion of the problem 
of these folded bands. 

Figs. 41a, b and c illustrate on the living model three of the 
numerous less formal arrangements of these folded bands which 
appear on the portrait busts. Fig. 41d shows the back of Figs. 41a 
and b, while the back of 41c closely resembles Fig. 32 excepting 
that the folded band takes the place of the loose irregular folds 
which lie across the back of the neck and along the right shoulder. 

On numerous portrait busts of which Fig. 38b is representative, 
and on a few statues, the folded bands are more formal than in 
the preceding examples. One of these statues is in the Barberini 
Collection, Fig. 42, and a part of another is in the Albertinum in 
Dresden, Fig. 43.*° On both these statues, the band which crosses 
the breast has a fixed and rigid appearance; and by a schematic 
arrangement, the one which descends from the left shoulder may 
be made to form a fold surrounding the curve of the sinus as on 
Fig. 40 and Fig. 51." These wide bands, like the narrower ones 
of Figs. 41a, b and c, differ in their arrangement. Sometimes the 
one surrounding the left shoulder extends entirely across the 
breast as in Fig. 42 and sometimes it disappears beneath the 
drapery a little to the right of the middle of the breast as on 
Fig. 43. 

While this drapery appears to be highly conventionalized and 
sculptural, it is, as a matter of fact, fairly realistic, and its recon- 


16 This fragment has been published as a complete statue (see Reinach, Rep. de la stat. 
grec. et rom., I, 548) but the portion from the hips downward was a restoration, which 
has since been removed. 

17 The general appearance of the drapery of the statue Fig. 51 would seem to place it 
in the same group as Figs. 42 and 43. It presents one detail, however, which, if true to 
form, is a step in the development of the later forms of the toga, and I have so consid- 
ered it. 


78 THE ROMAN TOGA 


struction on the living model is not especially difficult—not 
more so at least than the Romans themselves evidently found it; 
for it was doubtless to a toga draped in this fashion that Tertul- 
lian refers, though his remarks are likewise applicable to a later 
form of the toga. After speaking of the simplicity of the early 
toga, he says, “so that there was no need of a skilled person who 
the day before should from the beginning, make folds and smooth 
them down more elegantly and place in forceps the whole mass 
of the contracted umbo; then in the morning when the tunic is 
girt, which is better if it is woven of fine threads, examining and 
replacing the umbo, if any part of it is out of place; a portion 
of it he draws out from the left; the circular part of which the 
sinus is composed, if the folds are insufficient, he draws away 
from the shoulder blades and uncovering his right shoulder, he 
heaps it on his left shoulder along with another equal fold in- 
tended for the back, and so the garment covers him. Therefore, 
I appeal to your judgment; what is your first idea about the toga, 
is it a garment or a burden? Did one have a garment or a 
pack? 718 

It is difficult to reconcile Tertullian’s reference to the umbo 
to this style of draping, since the fabric forming the umbo has 
been taken up in the band of folds crossing the breast. Possibly 
this part of the toga was still called the umbo, even though in 
the draping it had lost the form from which it took its name; 


18 Tertullian, De Pallio, V. “ Adeo nec artificem necesse est qui pridie rugas ab exordio 
formet et inde deducat nitidius, totumque contracti umbonis figmentum custodibus for- 
cipibus assignet; dehine diluculo tunica prius cingulo correpta, quam praestabat modera- 
tiorem texuisse recognito rursus umbone et si quid exorbitavit reformato, partem quidem 
de laevo promittat, ambitum vero eius ex quo sinus nascitur iam deficientibus tabulis 
retrahat a scapulis et exclusa dextera in laevam adhuc congerat cum alio pari tabulato in 
terga devoto, atque ita hominem sarcina vestiat. Conscientiam denique tuam perrogabo 
quid te prius in toga sentias indutum, anne onustum? habere vestem, an baiulare?” 





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THE IMPERIAL TOGA 79 


or Tertullian may have been speaking loosely of the difficulties 
and encumbrance of the various styles of draping the toga. 

With the loose, informally draped togas which we have pre- 
viously considered, the folds naturally changed with every move- 
ment of the wearer, and slight readjustments of the drapery were 
frequently necessary and easily made. But it is apparent that a 
toga draped with the heavy folded bands would lose its character 
and style and become embarrassing to the wearer unless these 
precise folds retain their exact form and their place on the 
human figure; and this they will not do unless secured in some 
way. 

Fig. 44 shows a reconstruction on the living model of the 
drapery of Fig. 42 where the folded band extends entirely across 
the breast to the right armpit; and Fig. 45, the same toga with 
this band disposed as on Fig. 43. The toga used for both these 
draperies is the same as that used on Figs. 41a, b, c. The first 
step in producing the drapery was to lay the folds; but instead 
of securing them by means of the forceps which Tertullian men- 
tions, and which have not yet been identified, they are secured 
by concealed stitches. When properly folded and secured, the 
bands form a border which nearly surrounds the sinus. The toga 
is then placed on the wearer in the usual way, see Fig. 31a. 
On Fig. 41a when the folded band is drawn over the shoulder, 
it lies naturally across the breast, and is held in place only by 
the support which the drapery gives. But on Figs. 42 and 43 this 
band is much wider and lies in an almost horizontal line across 
the breast. Obviously it could not retain this position unless given 
a firmer support than is afforded by the drapery beneath it. In 
the reconstruction, this support is given by arranging the band 
in the required position and attaching it to itself, as shown by 


80 THE ROMAN TOGA 


Fig. 46. The draping then proceeds in the usual manner. The 
band which the assistant holds in his right hand passes over the 
model’s left shoulder, so that the sinus with the heavy band on its 
edge is draped over the front of the figure, and a continuation 
of the same band hangs in a straight line from the left shoulder 
down the back. The drapery is completed by adjusting the band 
across the breast and around the left shoulder. The continuation 
of this band crosses the back diagonally to the right side of the 
figure, as on Fig. 41d. When the drapery is completely adjusted 
it has. the stability of a fitted garment. In Figs. 41b and 51 the 
wearer grasps the edge of the sinus with his right hand, thus 
holding the folded band in its diagonal position across the back. 
But since this action of the right hand is only a pose, it is necessary 
to furnish permanent support for this band. This is done by 
attaching it to the drapery at the right side of the back. 

Fig. 42 is not worked out in the back, but the disposition of 
the drapery must closely resemble that of Fig. 41d. Fig. 43 is 
partially worked in the back, but as is usual in such cases, the 
chiseling is rough as if done by a workman instead of an artist 
and at some of the essential points there is no connection between 
the folds of the drapery in the back and those in front. But, 
making due allowance for such deficiencies, the arrangement of 
the drapery on the back of this fragment is the same as on 
Fig. aid. | 

Diagram Fig. 39 shows the form and proportions of the toga 
of Figs. 41a, b, c, d and Figs. 44 and 45. Its similarity to Fig. 27a 
is toO apparent to require graphic comparison, the difference 
being one of size only; but even this difference is not necessary 
since the larger toga can be draped in this way, though with 
greater difficulty. The very limited number of extant portrait — 





Fic. 46. 
The Draping of the Toga with Folded Bands. 





THE IMPERIAL TOGA 81 


statues wearing the imperial toga with heavy bands warrants the 
conclusion that they were not generally worn with that form 
of toga. 

The toga of Figs. 39 and 41a, b, and c when draped in the 
same manner closely resembles the toga on the figure of the 
emperor in the Trajanic relief, Fig. 37. It is, therefore, a toga 
whose fabric, size and proportions were suitable for ordinary use. 
The principal literary evidence which we have concerning the 
actual measurement of the toga is from the Scholium on Persius 
which is also evidently quoted by Isidore. The bare statement is 
made that the proper length of the toga is six ulnae.”” But which 
dimension is considered the length? In the present discussion I 
have taken as this dimension the measurement of the toga from 
the end which hangs down between the feet in the front to the 
corresponding end in the back. There is great obscurity as to 
the exact length of the ulna, and it evidently meant different 
lengths at different times. Scholars differ in their opinions, some 
giving it a length of six feet, others 45 inches (the length of 
the ell) and still others, 18 inches. Manifestly, neither the first 
nor the second figure could have been the measurement which 
the scholiast had in mind, since the toga thirty-six feet or even 
224 feet (according to the second figure) in any of its dimensions 
would be unthinkable. 

On the other hand, six times the last mentioned figure (18 
inches) is nine feet which is much less than the possible length 
of any form of the toga from end to end, as we have been reckon- 
ing the length. 


19 Scholia, Persius, V, 14, “ Mensura togae iustae senas ulnas habebat.” Isidore, Orig., 
XIX, 24, 4, “ Mensura togae iusta si sex ulnas habeat.” 


9 


82 THE ROMAN TOGA 


But after the form of the toga of diagram Fig. 39 had been 
worked out on a living model whose height is about that of an 
average man, an actual measurement of the garment showed 
that its extreme depth, that is, the line cd was 108 inches or six 
times 18 inches. To be sure, this is not proof. that cd is the 
dimension which the scholiast regarded as the length, nor that 
18 inches was the measure of the ulna he had in mind. But a 
toga of this width or depth (cd) is, as we see, one of moderate 
size as compared with togas on various imperial statues, and 
could well have been the depth or width of the togas shown in 
the Trajanic relief, Fig. 37. However, as the toga varied greatly 
in all of its dimensions at different periods, any hard and fast 
statement regarding its measurements could only apply to some 
specific form of the garment, and even then the measurements 
would depend upon the size of the wearer. 

Whenever it is said that this or any other style of toga is of 
convenient size for every day wear, the statement is made with 
reservations. According to our ideas, the toga was never a con- 
venient garment, nor did the Romans find it so. All Roman 
citizens were privileged to wear it, but the only persons who 
used it as an every day garment were those of the leisure patrician 
class whose occupation was attending to political affairs. For 
more active occupations, traveling, hunting, and the like, a cir- 
cular cloak was worn as is proven by numerous wall paintings 
and by relief sculptures such as the medallions on the Arch of 
Constantine. Soldiers wore a similar cloak. When at work, the 
poor Roman citizen, as well as the slave, wore only his tunic. 

Literary references to the wearing or the omission of the toga 
are naturally casual, but the inferences to be drawn from them 
are clear. A few examples will be sufficient to illustrate them. 


THE IMPERIAL TOGA 83 


Suetonius says that Augustus * “desired to revive the ancient 
fashion of dress, and once when he saw in an assembly a throng 
of men in dark cloaks he cried out indignantly, ‘ Behold them, 
Romans, lords of the world, the nation clad in the toga,’ and he 
directed the aediles never again to allow any one to appear in the 
Forum or its neighborhood except in the toga and without a 
cloak.” (Rolfe’s translation). 

Livy,” describing the calling of Lucius Quinctius “ the sole 
hope of the Roman people” says that the senatorial legation 
found him at work on his farm and requested him to put on his 
toga and respond to the commands of the senate. He accordingly, 
bade his wife bring his toga from his hut. 

Juvenal * remarks, ‘“‘ Let our juniors attend [the circus]... 
Better for us that our wrinkled skins absorb the spring sunshine 
and we be relieved of the toga.” 

Literature, therefore, supports the evidence of the reliefs and 
wall paintings. The toga was worn by Roman citizens on all 
formal occasions, and omitted when permissible or when one’s 
occupation made such a garment impossible. The Antonine 
reliefs show togas, which are much shorter even than the togas 
on the Trajanic relief (Fig. 37), many of them extending only a 
little below the knees. This was doubtless the toga of the ordi- 
nary Roman citizen. 

A few of the sculptured togas with heavy bands present a detail 
worthy of especial mention. On Fig. 43 there are to be seen on 
the band which crosses the breast, two stripes; one of them 
crosses the band obliquely at about the middle of the breast, and 


20 See Suet., Aug., 40, 5. 
21 Livy, III, 26, 7-10. 
22 Juvenal, XI, 203. 


84 THE ROMAN TOGA 


the other just below the left shoulder. The first stripe is care- 
fully worked into the marble; the second is only scratched upon 
the surface. A similar scratch on the vertical band on the front of 
the figure indicates the intended position of another stripe. There 
are evidences on other parts of this fragment that the statue was 
never wholly finished, which may account for these scratches 
being left without further working. ‘Two similar stripes are 
visible on the folded band across the breast of Fig. 42, but their 
inclination is from right to left instead from left to right as on 
Fig. 43. On Fig. 51 two such stripes appear on the band across 
the breast and four on the vertical band on the left side of the 
body. On neither of these statues do stripes appear in other parts 
of the drapery. 

Stripes in this part of the toga could have been produced in 
the weaving by laying in, at intervals, heavy threads parallel 
with the woof threads, but extending them only a short distance 
from the edge instead of carrying them clear across the web. 
There are numerous instances of stripes woven in this way in the 
Coptic tunics. Another explanation is also possible. May not 
these stripes represent metal clamps or the forceps of which 
Tertullian speaks, and which were used to hold the folds in 
placer?= 

An occasional literary passage mentions a distinctive style of 
toga, the toga picta, perhaps in later times also called the toga 
palmata. The actual information contained in these passages is 
meager. From them we gather that the wearing of this toga was 


22a It has been suggested that these stripes represent creases caused by folding the toga 
to lay it away. But the precise and schematic rendering of them, and the fact that they 
appear only on the folded bands and in no other parts of the drapery, make the acceptance 
of this theory a little difficult. 


THE IMPERIAL TOGA 85 


granted as a special honor to a victor at his triumph, and to 
other persons of distinction on special occasions.** Originally it 
was worn with the tunica palmata. This doubtless accounts 
for the use of the term toga palmata, by some classical writers.” 
In early times the triumphal toga picta appears to have been 
the property of the state and kept in the Capitoline temple of 
Jupiter.” Later it became the official dress of the emperors and 
according to Capitolinus, Gordianus was the first Roman to own 
a tunica palmata and a toga picta as private property.” 

As to the appearance of this garment, a few points may be 
fairly inferred. Purple is spoken of as the color of the toga worn 
with the tunica palmata, even though the specific term toga picta 
is not used,” therefore the color of this toga was doubtless purple. 
Its name. indicates that it was decorated with figures or designs 
embroidered upon it, and gold would have been the appropriate 
color for such decoration. But what were the exact forms of the 
designs? Were they palms or palmettes or were they various 
small figures? 

Some scholars have accepted the garment of Roman kings de- 
scribed by Dionysius of Halicarnassus as the toga picta,* and 
Florus states that it was used by Tarquinius.” The wearing of 
it was, therefore, a very ancient custom. Did it retain its original 
shape, or was its form changed from time to time to correspond 


28 Tac., Annales, IV, 26; Livy, X, 7, 9; XXX, 15, 11; Florus, I, 5, 6. 
24 Martial, VII, 2, 8; Servius, dd Bucol., X, 27. 

25 Scriptores Hist. Aug., Alex. Severus, 40, 8. 

26 Scriptores Hist. Aug., Gordiani Tres, 4, 4. 

27 Livy, XXXI, 11, 11. 

28 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III, 61. 

2° Florus, 1, 5, 6.. 


86 THE ROMAN TOGA 


with the togas in general use? To these questions we find no 
answer.” 

On one class of monuments, the ivory consular diptychs, there 
is represented an elaborately embroidered toga, which will be 
referred to in a succeeding chapter. 

The cinctus Gabinus is also mentioned in connection with the 
toga. Literary references indicate definitely that it was not a 
separate garment but a manner of draping the toga, and that it 
was used only when one was engaged in a sacrifice or some other 
especially solemn religious rite.** The consul was girt with it 
when he unbarred the gates of war,” and also Decius, when he 
devoted himself to the gods for the people and the legions.* 

As to the manner of the girding, Servius says: “ girt in the 
Sabine manner, that is, with part of the toga drawn over the head, 
and with part girded;” ** and again, “ the gabinus cinctus is the 
toga so thrown in the back that one edge of it brought again 
from the back girds the figure.® Isidore says, “It is the cinctus 
Gabinus when the toga is put on in such manner that the edge 
of the toga which is thrown back is drawn to the breast so that 
from either side from the shoulders embroidery may hang down 


30 For further discussion see: Amelung, Die Gewandung der alten Griechen und 
Romer, p. 50; Miller in Baumeister, Denkm., III, 1832-3; Marquardt, Das Privatleben der 
Romer, II, 542 and 562; Courby, Toga in Daremberg et Saglio, op. cit., V, 352; Heuzey, 
op. Ccit., p. 267. 

81 See Livy, V, 46, 2. ( 

82 See Verg., Aen., VII, 6o1 ff. 

Se Livy; M758 

34 Servius, dd Aen., V, 755, “ et incincti ritu Sabino, i. e. togae parte caput velati, parte 
succincti . . .” 

35 Servius, dd Aen., VII, 612, “ Cinctuque Gabino; Gabinus cinctus est toga sic in tergum 
reiecta, ut una eius lacinia a tergo revocata hominem cingat.”’ 





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THE IMPERIAL TOGA 87 


just as the priests of the gentiles used to arrange it, or as the prae- 
tors were girt.” 

In the first place, then, with the cinctus Gabinus the toga 
is drawn over the head; but, as we have seen, this was frequently 
done (see Figs. 17a, b, c, d and e and 22 and 23). Servius’ second 
statement is a little vague, but taken in connection with what 
we have already learned about draping the toga, it enables us to 
make a plausible solution of the problem. The part of “ the 
toga which is thrown back,” must be the part which hangs from 
the left shoulder down the left side of the back. | 

Turning to Fig. 31b, let us suppose that the sinus instead of 
lying along the back of the neck and on the right shoulder had 
been brought up over the head as on Figs. 23 and 24. And then 
suppose that the assistant, instead of placing on the left shoulder 
the folds which he is holding up had drawn them under the 
left arm, and around the waist in the back, bringing the end 
under the right arm and tucking it under the drapery just below 
the model’s right hand. The toga would then have “ girded the 
figure” according to Servius’ description. Figs. 47b and c show 
this arrangement of the toga on a little working model. The toga 
used is the toga of Figs. 12 and 13, though any form of toga can 
be draped in this way. 

This draping produces a firm, stable garment. The drapery 
on the left shoulder and arm is held in place, leaving the left 
arm practically free. Girt in this way Aeneas and his associates 
could easily have held the “curved handle” of the plow with 
which they marked the boundaries of their city.” 


36 Isidore, Orig., XIX, 24, 7, “Cinctus Gabinus est cum ita inponitur toga ut togae 
lacinia quae post secus reicitur, adtrahitur ad pectus, ita ut ex utroque latere ex humeris 
picturae pendeant, ut sacerdotes gentilium faciebant aut cingebantur praetores.” 

37 Servius, Ad Aen., V, 755. 


88 THE ROMAN TOGA 


In an illustration in a manuscript of Vergil * there is a figure 
of Anchises wearing a drapery which some modern scholars 
believe to be the cinctus Gabinus. Drawings have been made of 
this figure in which the artists have given their own interpreta- 
tion to the lines and have drawn them with great clearness and 
precision.” As a matter of fact, this figure in the illustration is 
now so blurred and dimmed by age that no authoritative repro- 
duction of its drapery is possible, see Fig. 47a. Moreover the 
whole aim of the illustrator was artistic; at most, he has only 
suggested the nature of the garment which Anchises was wearing. 
Why, under the circumstances, it should have been a cinctus 
Gabinus is not clear. However, so far as one can judge, the 
drapery corresponds in a general way with that of Figs. 47a and b. 

Isidore in the passage quoted above assumes that an embroi- 
dered toga was used for the cinctus Gabinus, but the inference is 
clear from other writers that the ordinary toga was used. Evi- 
dently Isidore refers to the toga of the ivory consular diptychs 
which was the official Roman toga of his day. 


38 See Fragmenta et Picturae Vergiliana Codicis Vaticani 3225 (Rome, 1899), pl. 57. 
39 See Heuzey, Histoire du costume antique, Fig. 135, p. 265; also Baumeister, Denkm., 
III, 1884, Fig. 1924. 


IV 


LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 


Broadly stated, the changes thus far traced in the toga have | 
been first, an increase in its length, and a much greater one in 
its width, so that considerably more than one-third of the width 
could be folded over to form the sinus; second, a change in the 
form by cutting off the upper corners, which greatly elongates 
the upper or sinus edge of the garment, making it convex and 
permitting more varied and elaborate styles of draping; third, a 
change in draping in order to dispose more conveniently of the 
mass of fabric, and at the same time preserve the elaborate 
appearance of the garment. 

From this point onward in the solution of the toga problem, 
one must appeal almost entirely to the existing monuments, for 
extant literature gives no specific account of the later forms 
of the toga. To be sure, in the foregoing discussion, references 
from a few late authors have been cited, but with the exception 
of Tertullian (note 18, Chap. III) the quotations are from 
commentaries on Roman customs prior to the commentator’s own 
day. 

The difficulty is further increased by the fact that many of 
the existing monuments of this later period are of poor work- 
manship, with many inconsistencies in the rendering of the drap- 
eries and in the proportions and poses of the human figure. 
But these inferior sculptures are of value for our study because 
they were produced by men who, following a decadent tendency | 
in art, often reproduce details which better artists would omit; 


89 


90) THE ROMAN TOGA 


and though the rendering of these details, in many cases, is 
clumsy and incorrect, they frequently furnish clues to the actual 
form of the drapery. Many of these sculptors were incapable of 
giving to their draperies the appearance of actual fabric, which 
the better artists were able to do. Asa result of these detects the 
resemblance between the sculptured figure and the living Tage 7 
is much less pronounced than in the case of sculptured figures 
of better workmanship. ae 
With the imperial toga, the garment reached the limit of size 

Not only literature, but also the extant monuments indicate that 
Romans generally agreed with Tertullian in his opinion of its 
inconvenience, so that by the latter part of the second century 
of our era, or even earlier, the wearing of the toga was, to a great 
extent, discontinued. Juvenal asserts that in his time there was a 
great part of Italy in which no one wore the toga unless dead,’ 
and a passage from Martial indicates that it was worn only on 
special or festive occasions. “ On the Ides,” he says, addressing 
a certain Linus, “and on the rare calends, your poor toga is 
shaken out...” * These statements are possibly a little exagger- 
ated, but existing monuments, particularly the reliefs on sar- 
cophagi indicate that a plainer garment, “the simple pallium,” 
was much in vogue. There is equally positive evidence, however, 
that the imperial toga was punctiliously worn, at least as a badge 


of office, for two or three centuries after the time of Juvenal and 


1 Juvenal, III, 171, 
“Pars magna Italiae est, si verum admittimus in qua 
Nemo togam sumit nisi mortuus.” 
2 Martial, IV, 66, 
Idibus et raris togula est excussa Kalendis. 
Duxit et aestates synthesis una decem. 





‘auoy 
*[2Poy Surary ay} uo gb “Sty jo eBoy sy 7 ‘IWIIT, a[[9P OasNy] 2Y} UI anjzej}g WeII0g Y 
‘6b “Oy "gh ‘Oly 





LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 91 


Martial, for it occasionally appears on sculptured figures at- 
tributed to the fourth century of our era. It may well be doubted 
whether it was actually worn at so late a date, unless on some 
unusual occasion. But the continued appearance of it in sculpture 
proves the attachment of the Roman to this stately costume, 
even though he found it an intolerable burden in every day life. 

While the toga until well into the first century of our era 
expanded in size and in the magnificence of its drapery, and re- 
tained these qualities for a considerable period, the next step. was 
in the direction of shrinkage and distortion. Reference has 
already been made to the figures on the Arch of Trajan at Bene- 
ventum (Fig. 37) which show a tendency to extend the sinus and 
to narrow the under section, which was originally the main part 
of the toga. 

Several extant statues attributed to the second century of our 
era, or a little later, show the advance of this tendency. One of 
them is in the Museo delle Terme at Rome. See Fig. 48. On this 
statue the sinus and the under section of the toga appear to be 
of about the same width or depth both extending midway between 
the knee and ankle. But as a matter of fact, in order to be 
draped in this way, the sinus needs to be slightly wider than the 
under section, since considerably more of its width is taken up 
in the draping. For convenience, I shall designate this as the 
“ double toga.”” While the workmanship of this statue is inferior, 
the drapery having a metallic, unnatural appearance, fretted by 
numerous confused and arbitrary folds, it and others of its class 
are important for the study of the toga, since they illustrate the 
half way stage between the style represented by Fig. 10, where 
the sinus is only barely suggested, and the latest forms where it 
becomes the principal part of the garment. 


92 THE ROMAN TOGA 


Experiments in reproducing this style of toga resulted in the 
form surrounded by the heavy line in diagram, Fig. 50. The 
dotted line gives the previous form—the full imperial toga of 
Fig. 27a. Fig. 50 shows that the double toga is shorter than the 
imperial toga, even though its end trails the ground as does that 
of the imperial toga. This is accounted for by the fact that the 
double toga is brought up more tightly under the right arm and 
across the body than is the imperial toga, thus taking up less 
of the length in draping. 

The diagram shows that on each toga, the sinus has the same 
depth, but that on the double toga the under section has been 
considerably narrowed. In Fig. 50 the portions represented by 
HG and JK and the points X and Z correspond to the portions 
indicated by the same letters on the folded toga, Fig. 27b. Fig. 49 
shows this toga draped on the living model. While the resem- 
blance between the statue and the living model is less positive 
than in the case of statues on which the drapery is more realis- 
tically rendered, the general form and characteristic lines of 
both are practically the same. 

We see in Fig. 48 that with the contracting of the lower 
section of the toga, so that it no longer conceals the legs, there is a 
corresponding lengthening of the tunic, so that it reaches half way 
between the knee and ankle, instead of just below the knee as 
was the correct length in earlier times. As the toga became still 
scantier, two tunics were often worn. 

It would seem that the change in the toga which we have just 
considered made little improvement, unless it be that the legs 
were less hampered. But the trailing end between the feet and 
the mass of folds on the left shoulder and left fore-arm remain. 





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Fic. 50. 
The Double Toga. 


93 


10 


94 THE ROMAN TOGA 


A more radical change appears on some of the late togas of 
imperial size—a change which might escape notice, or the detail 
which gives evidence of it be attributed to artistic convention, 
were it not that it is unmistakable on later forms of the toga. 
Reference has already been made to Fig. 51, which is a portrait 
statue in the Villa Doria Pamphilia in Rome. The drapery on the 
upper part of this statue differs in no essential point from that 
of Figs. 42 and 43, but the lower part of the drapery, particularly 
the end between the feet, has a decidedly different appearance. 
It is arranged in a narrow, flat double fold. On Fig. 42 this end 
of the toga is drawn out so that it falls in a broad irregular mass. 
That this is its natural disposition with this form of drapery is 
proven by Fig. 46 which shows how the drawing of the band 
across the breast naturally brings the toga across the front of the 
body with its edge well over to the right side. The closer the 
fold across the breast is brought to the right armpit, the broader 
will be the disposition of the toga between or in front of the 
ankles. On Fig. 45 this band extends only a little to the right of 
the middle of the breast, but on Fig. 44 it is brought entirely 
across the breast, and the lower end of the toga in front of the — 
ankles falls in a correspondingly broader mass. On the statue, 
Fig. 42, this end of the drapery is treated with a degree of 
artistic license, but it forms a broad mass as on Fig. 44.° 

Fig. 46, therefore, shows plainly that a formal folded band 
between the feet would not retain its shape and position unless 
relieved of the pull exerted by the drawing of the folded band 
across the breast. In order to accomplish this the lower part of 
the sinus which joins this band must be eliminated, so that the 


8The lower part of this statue has been restored, but the rendering of the end of the 
drapery in the restoration seems to be fully guaranteed by the folds above it. 





FIG. 51. 
A Portrait Statue in the Villa Doria Pamphilia. 
Rome. 








Fic. 52A. 


A Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 51. 


LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 95 


portion of it which forms the band across the breast can be 
arranged without disturbing the lower end of the toga. The 
evidence of such elimination is very clear on later forms of the 
toga. It is impossible to say just how much of the sinus has been 
discarded, but enough is retained to form the fold across the 
breast and to produce the other necessary parts of the drapery. 

The form which was found to satisfy these conditions is shown 
by the solid outline in diagram Fig. 53. The general shape is 
the same as that of other imperial togas excepting that the section 
designated by the letters AFR has been eliminated. A toga of 
this shape is draped on the living model, Fig. 52a. In order to 
make clearer the manner of producing these complicated folds, a 
few details are added to the diagram, Fig. 53, but here again 
the statement is emphasized that the points indicated on the 
diagram and the explanations which follow are only approximate. 

Before placing it upon the wearer, the toga of diagram Fig. 53 
is folded along the line AB, as in diagram Fig. 27b. But first the 
double fold which lies between the feet is laid along the line 
AK as indicated by the parallel lines. This fold must have been 
stayed at some point between A and R. Between R and K the 
precise arrangement of this fold was probably not maintained. 
The heavy band which crosses the breast is formed by folding 
back and forth upon itself the section OFS beginning at the 
corner F, and the folds are produced in the direction of S far 
enough to form a band which will extend across the breast. The 
final arrangement of the folds in this band will need be made 
after the toga is placed on the wearer. ‘The band which descends 
from the wearer’s left shoulder down the left side of the front 
of the body is folded from the section between the lines BE and 
hn. Fig. 51 is not worked out in the back, but the arrangement 





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Cc. Titel 
Fic. 53. 
. A Transitional ‘Toga. 












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Fig. §4. 
Detail from a Relief on a Sarcophagus in the Museo delle Terme. 
Alinari. Rome. 


LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 97 


of the drapery must have been practically the same as that of 
Fig. 52b which is the back of Fig. 52a. As on Fig. 41d, the 
broad band which passes diagonally across the back, is attached 
to the drapery just back of the right arm. 

The changes we have just discussed prepare us for the still 
greater ones appearing in sculptured togas in the early part of the 
third century A. D. These changes did not produce one fixed 
form of toga which was characteristic of the period; instead, 
there were several forms in vogue at the same time, all differing 
but slightly from each other. With all of these forms, three 
features, whose development we have already traced, continued 
to appear. The first one, the heavy folded bands, while not 
invariably used with the later togas, were exceedingly popular. 
The second feature, the narrowing of the under section and the 
widening of the sinus becomes still more pronounced; the elimi- 
nation of a portion of the sinus becomes a characteristic feature 
and was accompanied by a similar contraction of the lower 
section. 

On a sarcophagus relief in the Museo delle Terme, attributed 
to the third century of our era, there is a togated figure which 
closely resembles many others in relief sculpture of the same 
period. It presents many of the details of the later togas, and 
at the same time has some features which closely connect it with 
the preceding forms: see the male figure of the central group, 
Fig. 54. While this figure is small and its proportions faulty, 
producing corresponding discrepancies in the drapery, the work 
as a whole is of better quality than is often found in relief sculp- 
tures of this class. 

Comparing the entire costume of this figure with any of those 
which have already been discussed, we find several unfamiliar 


98 THE ROMAN TOGA 


features. The toga is shorter and scantier than any which we 
have thus far encountered. Instead of one tunic, the lower edge 
of asecond is clearly shown. The end of the toga in front extends 
only slightly below the knees, but its shape closely resembles 
the corresponding end of the toga of Fig. 51. The under section 
of the garment, as we see it on the left thigh, has approximately 
the original shape, but it has shrunk in size. The outer edge of 
it as it crosses the thigh is rolled back upon itself, which at first 
glance is a little deceptive. But if we conceive of this edge as 
lying in its natural position, we would have the usual curve on 
this edge of the garment. With the exception of the end hanging 
between the knees, and the folds lying on top of the left wrist, 
the lower section of the toga has almost disappeared in this drap- 
ery. Of the full curve which on earlier togas was brought across 
the front of the body and gracefully draped over the left forearm, 
so that its edge fell to the ankles, nothing is now visible but 
the close-drawn stinted curve which appears on the right thigh 
just below the part of the drapery which the wearer holds in 
his left hand. 

The upper section of the toga which is draped across the front 
of the body, and which we must still identify as the sinus, is held 
so that it forms a pouch. The beginnings of this manner of hold- 
ing the toga we found on the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum, 
Fig. 37. If the sinus were released from the wearer’s left hand 
and let fall, it would reach nearly if not quite to the floor. 

Wesee, therefore, that this toga combines the changes noted in 
the two preceding examples. Fig. 56 gives the resultant form 
and compares it with the form of the double toga (diagram 
Fig. 50). Figs. 55a and 5sb show the front and back arrange- 
ment of this toga when draped on the living model. 








Fic. 55B. 


Fic. 55A. 


A Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 54. 





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LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 99 


We see by the diagram that the later toga is much the shorter 
of the two, that the lower section is much narrower and the sinus 
considerably wider. We also see that while its proportions are 
different, its form is the same as that of diagram Fig. 53. 

For the most part, the later forms of the toga are, like the 
one just discussed, represented to us in relief sculpture. Fortu- 
nately there are a few statues in the round wearing some of the 
later forms of the toga, and one of them, which illustrates the 
next decided change, is in the North African collection in the 
Louvre, Fig. 57a. The back of this statue is not worked in detail, 
the folds of the drapery being represented by formal lines and 
flat ridges; yet they show the disposition of the parts of the 
garment, and their articulation with the drapery on the front of 
the statue. See Fig. 57b. 

By comparing the togas of Figs. 54 and 57a, we see that the 
under section of the latter is the wider of the two, extending half 
way between the knee and ankle. There is also a difference in the 
shape of the front end of the two togas. On Fig. 57a this end is 
a straight folded band. Apparently both the sinus and the curved 
edge of the under section have disappeared from this end of the 
toga. Otherwise this toga closely resembles that of Fig. 54, ex- 
cepting that it is larger, that the under section as it comes across 
the right thigh is more prominent; and that the folds over the 
shoulder are gathered in an irregular mass instead of being laid 
in a formal folded band. 

Experiments on the living model show that the form of this 
toga must approximate very closely that indicated by the heavy 
line in diagram Fig. 59, the dotted line giving the form of the 
double toga, diagram Fig. 50. Comparing the form of this toga 
with that shown in diagram Fig. 56, we see that the only marked 


100 THE ROMAN TOGA 


difference is that in Fig. 59 a considerable portion of the under 
section of the toga adjacent to the curve DZa has been dispensed 
with, leaving only the straight strip AaOo which forms the 
folded band hanging between or in front of the knees. 

A toga having the form shown in Fig. 59 appears on the living 
model, Fig. 58a, which establishes its own identity with Fig. 57a. 
Fig. 60 illustrates the first step in draping this toga, which, it 
will be observed, is identical with this stage in the draping of 
all the other togas. But nearly all the mass of cloth, which in 
Fig. 31a we see hanging from the left shoulder and arm and 
sweeping the floor, has been shortened and reduced to a folded. 
band, which extends from a point about half way between the 
knee and ankle to a point well above the waist line, where the 
sinus and under section of the toga make their appearance. They 
are designated V and W respectively and correspond to the por- 
tions of the toga so marked on Fig. 59. Naturally, neither the 
exact length of this folded band, nor the exact points where 
the sinus and the curve of the lower section of the toga appear 
can be determined with absolute certainty. As in the case of the 
toga of Fig. 54, there must be enough of the sinus retained at 
this end of the toga to produce the folds on the shoulder. Like- 
wise there must be enough of the lower section of the toga 
retained to make the proper draping on the back of the model. 

The remaining steps in the drapery are the same as shown in 
Figs. 31a and b excepting that the sinus instead of being brought 
up across the back of the neck and along the right shoulder, is 
brought under the right arm, across the front of the body and 
held up in the wearer’s left hand. Also the folds brought over 
the shoulder take the place of the umbo. Fig. 57b gives the back 
view of the statue, Fig. 57a; and Fig. 58b is the back view of the 
toga on the living model. 


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LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 101 


In this toga, therefore, all of the advantages achieved by the 
toga of Fig. 54 have been retained, and the amount of drapery 
held on the left arm has been still further reduced. The left 
hand and arm, however, are still hampered by the garment. 
With all of these changes, the toga has retained, though in a 
modified form, the three characteristics to which attention was 
called in the early part of this discussion, viz., the end of the 
toga hanging between the feet or knees; the two sets or groups 
of folds passing over the left shoulder, and the portion of the 
drapery supported on the left arm. 

From this time on (the early third century of our era) the 
representations of the toga are mainly in relief on sarcophagi. 
These reliefs show many forms of the toga differing in various 
details from the two forms just discussed, but the modifications 
are generally so slight that they cannot be said to produce a 
separate form. The width of the straight end of the garment 
hanging between the knees varies, sometimes being narrow and 
hanging free; sometimes wider and folded into a band, heavier 
and broader even than that on Fig. 57a. Nor does it appear that 
these minor changes occur in chronological order; indeed, the 
reverse seems true. As with the earlier forms of the toga, there 
are numerous ways of disposing of the drapery. Sometimes the 
sinus instead of. being held up by the left hand is thrown over 
the left forearm; sometimes it is drawn up over the right shoulder 
and arm. 

While these later forms of toga were the usual ones repre- 
sented on the monuments after the beginning of the third century 
A. D., the earlier forms were also apparently in use. In the 
Roman Forum there is a sculptured base of a huge column which 
is one of the monuments of the reign of Diocletian. Despite its 






5 ne ee 


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—~ oe oe eee ee ee ee ee eee 


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Fic: 59: 
Late Form of Toga No. 2. 


Cc 


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102 


petaetwniesne Hii 





58a. 


The Draping of the Toga of Fig. 





ies 





Fic. 61A. 





Fic. 61B. 
Reliefs from a Monument of Diocletian in the Roman Forum. 


LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 103 


mutilated condition and inferior workmanship, it is of unusual 
importance in our study since it can be closely dated. ‘The column 
was probably erected in 303 A. D.* On one side of this base there 
is a procession of togated figures, see Fig. 61a. Four of these 
figures in the foreground wear a late form of toga. The sinus 
is thrown across the left wrist instead of being held in the hand. 
Of the fifth figure, the one at the extreme left of the relief, 
we have a back view, but the toga is evidently of the imperial 
form with the edge of the sinus brought up across the back of 
the neck and along the right shoulder as on Figs. 32 and 33. 

On an adjacent side of the base (Fig. 61b) we see the emperor 
pouring a libation. He wears the typical imperial toga with the 
drooping umbo. The person just behind him wears the same 
form of toga but with the folds on the left shoulder arranged 
in the style characteristic of the Antonine reliefs (Fig. 35) while 
the toga on the figure at the extreme left resembles some of those 
which we see on the arch of Trajan at Beneventum. No positive 
reason can be given for these differences in costume. Since 
Augustus had so strictly enforced the wearing of the toga,” it is 
possible that through force of custom, the toga of his period 
continued for three centuries or more to be the official garment 
for important ceremonies, such as that in which the emperor is 
here engaged. It is most probable that Diocletian himself did not 
always wear it, or at least did not always drape it in the style 
shown on his figure in this relief; for on his portrait bust in the 
Capitoline Museum at Rome, there are the heavy folded bands, 
hence the toga must have been either one of the late forms or else 
the imperial toga draped as on Fig. 38a or 41a or 41b. . 


4See Huelsen, The Roman Forum, 97 ff. 
5 Suet., Augustus, 40. 


104 THE ROMAN TOGA 


Following close upon the reign of Diocletian came the transfer 
of the seat of government from Rome to Constantinople, and 
with it went the toga. It was perhaps inevitable that this badge 
of Roman authority, which for centuries had followed the vary- 
ing fortunes of Rome, should be radically affected by this radical 
change in Roman affairs. 

Of the first form of toga of this period, two representations only 
are known to be in Italy.® ‘They are on statues in the Conservatori_ 
Palace. One of them Fig. 62 is an excellent specimen of the 
best Roman sculpture of this period. The other, excepting the 
head, is a dull, lifeless copy of Fig. 62 in ihe is slavishly 
reproduced every line and detail, arbitrary, inconsistent or other- 
wise, of the original.’ 

In Constantinople the extant monuments of the Roman period 
are relatively few. A notable one is the base of the Egyptian 
obelisk which was erected in the reign of Theodosius, Fig. 64. 
In the reliefs on this base are numerous figures whose togas are 
of the same style as that of Fig. 62, which proves the popularity 
of this form in the Byzantine capital. Also in the Imperial 
Ottoman museum there is a torso on which this same toga appears, 
Fig. 65a. But owing to its excellent preservation, Fig. 62 fur- 
nishes the better basis for our study. 

This is a portrait statue of a Roman magistrate. Beneath the 
toga we see that there are two tunics, one of which has long 
sleeves. It will be observed that the under section of the toga, 
in front, at least, has seemingly disappeared. Between the knees, 


® It is impossible to say just what sculptures of this late period may or may not exist. 
Many specimens of little or no artistic value are in obscure or private collections and 
have not been published. Not all. of these collections are accessible to the student of 
archaeology. 

7 See Strong, Roman Sees pl. CX XIX, 








Fic. 62. 
A Portrait Statue in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. 
Alinari. Rome. 


isi: 
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Fic. 63. 
A Reconstruction of the Toga of Fig. 62. 


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LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 105 


the end of the garment is a straight strip similar to that of 
Fig. 57a, excepting that on Fig. 62 it hangs naturally instead 
of being laid in folds. 

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this drapery is the 
band which crosses the breast and surrounds the left shoulder. 
It has no folds excepting the creases which would naturally be 
formed by its arrangement. We at once associate this part of the 
drapery with the folded band, such as appears in Fig. 54. But 
in Fig. 54 and in other sculptures showing this detail, the folded 
band emerges either in front of or at the right side of the breast. 
On Fig. 62, however, the band is brought from the back under 
the right arm, hence it must pass completely around the body. 
The upper edge of it, as it comes from under the right arm can 
be traced across the breast, around the back of the neck, along 
the top of the right shoulder, and then passing downward behind 
the upraised arm, around the curve which the drapery forms 
over the right knee and in front of the body. In this curving 
drapery we again recognize the sinus, and therefore this band 
across the chest, like the folded bands we have seen on other 
statues, is a part of the sinus, or a continuation of it. 

Another puzzling detail is the group of folds just in front of 
the left upper arm. Folds of this nature can only be produced 
by attaching the fabric at two opposite points and allowing the 
space between to sag. 

The statue, Fig. 62, is only roughly blocked out in the back; 
many of the folds of the drapery are blurred and indistinct and 
show no apparent articulation with those on the front of the 
statue. To increase. the difficulty in studying this drapery, the 
statue is attached to a base which is built into a wall, there 
being a space of only about fifteen inches between the wall and 


106 THE ROMAN TOGA 


the back of the statue, so that it is impossible to see the whole 
back from any one point of view. Under these conditions it is 
impossible to secure a photograph and most difficult to make a 
drawing; and in making one, many of the lines which cannot be 
clearly seen, would have to be interpreted and rendered accord- 
ing to the judgment of the draughtsman. It is to the skill and 
kindness of Mr. F. P. Fairbanks, professor in charge of the 
American School of Fine Arts in Rome, that the writer is 
indebted for the drawing reproduced in Fig. 66. 

It will at once be observed that the back of this statue is 
wholly different from any which has thus far been considered. 
The long column of folds which, on the other statues, hang from 
the left shoulder down the left side of the back, has disappeared, 
and in its stead, there is a peculiar form (marked M, Fig. 66) 
which suggests a scholar’s hood. The end of the sinus, which in 
Figs. §4 and 57a is held in the left hand, lies on the fore-arm of 
this statue; but with this exception, the left arm is relieved of all 
the drapery with which it has heretofore been burdened, and in 
Fig. 62 the sleeve of the tunic on the left arm is clearly defined. 
The only suggestion of the under section of the toga is in the folds 
which hang down from about the middle of the back, below point 
L and which are indicated lower down on the figure by the 
bracket at point R. The scanty working which was given to the 
upper part of the drapery was practically discontinued on the 
lower part of the statue, so that the folds and lines from R and § 
downward are unintelligible; and had it not been for revelations 
made by other statues, Fig. 62 would probably have kept the 
secret of its toga. , 3 

But we have seen in Figs. 54 and 57a, especially in the former, 
that the under section of the toga in front is almost covered by 





12 


FIG. 67. 
Back View of Fig. 63. 





A Drawing of the Back of Statue, Fig. 62. 


(By F, P. Fairbanks.) 





LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 107 


the sinus. On Fig. 62 the sinus extends much farther down on the 
body than on either Fig. 54 or 57a; and we have also seen that 
on Fig. 66 (at R) there is a portion of the drapery which can 
only be accounted for as a part of the under section of the toga. 
We may therefore conclude that at least a portion of the under 
section of the toga has been retained, but that in front it is 
concealed by the long, drooping curve of the sinus. This theory 
is confirmed by the back of the torso, in the Imperial Ottoman 
Museum, where despite the rough and sketchy character of the 
chiseling, the under section is clearly indicated. See Fig. 6sb. 

Before discussing in detail the back drapery of this toga, we 
will turn to its reconstruction on the living model, Fig. 63, and 
to diagram, Fig. 69, on which the exact form of the toga on the 
living model is shown by the heavy outline. As the dimension of 
this toga along the line cd is so much greater than that of the late 
togas we have been considering, the comparison is made with 
the large imperial toga, whose form is shown by the dotted out- 
line in the diagram. We see that this toga may be thought of as 
a large section taken right out of the middle part of the imperial 
toga, but with the dimension cd increased. We may consider that 
a little less than one-third of the imperial toga has been elimi- 
nated along the line Ii and the corner of the lower section cut 
off by the curve iC and that of the-sinus by the line IE; also 
that the same thing has happened to the front end excepting that 
from points O and 0 a long strip has been retained, and extended 
much beyond the points Aa of the imperial toga. 

The first step in draping this toga is illustrated by Fig. 68a. 
The long strip has been placed on the left shoulder so that its 
end extends nearly to the bottom of the over tunic; then the strip 
was brought diagonally across the back of the shoulders, under 


108 THE ROMAN TOGA 


the right arm, then diagonally across the breast and again over 
the left shoulder. This brings point O (Fig. 69) to the left side 
of the back of the neck and point o to the back of the left 
shoulder. The long strip has now passed entirely around the 
body. The toga is then folded approximately along the line bo, 
and brought diagonally across the back. Fig. 68a also shows the 
small under section of this toga, and the long sinus which trails 
on the floor. The point marked M hanging down from the assist- 
ant’s right hand is the portion of the toga so marked on the back 
of the statue, Fig. 66, and is approximately the portion between 
the points B and b on the diagram Fig. 69. 

The assistant then brings the toga under the model’s right 
arm, turning the sinus up so that it lies across the back of the 
neck and on top of the right shoulder. See Fig. 68b. ‘Then 
in his right hand he holds point marked M in Fig. 68a and with 
his left hand he gathers folds along the straight edge of the 
sinus (line IB of Fig. 69). He then places these folds on the 
left shoulder of the model, so that the part of the garment which 
he holds up in his right Rana will form the hoodlike section of 
drapery marked M on Fig. 66. The upper part of this portion of 
the drapery is then attached to the toga back of the left shoulder, 
see Fig. 68d. 

In Fig. 68b the under section of the toga with its curve Ci 
(see also Fig. 69) appears just below the model’s left hand, and 
back of the assistant’s left arm. This curve is caught up and 
fastened to the folds already on the shoulder, in such manner as 
to produce the folds which we have already noticed in front of 
the left upper arm of Fig. 62. See Fig. 68c. On Fig. 62 it is 
impossible to distinguish the edge of this curve on the upper left 
arm from the folds of the sleeve of the tunic. But it is clearly 








ge. 


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Fic. 688. 


The Draping of the Toga of Fig. 63. 








Fic. 68c. 


The Draping of the Toga of Fig. 63. 


LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA 109 


worked out on the torso in the Imperial Ottoman Museum, and 
is marked A of the drapery on the left upper arm of Fig. 65a; 
also on Fig. 65c which is a view of the left side of Fig. 65a. The 
straight band, I, Figs. 68a, b and c, is then brought out over 
the point of the shoulder and adjusted across the breast as it 
appears in Figs. 62 and 63. The sinus is then brought up so as 
to form the curving folds and is supported on the left fore-arm. 

Fig. 67 shows the back of the completed drapery on the living 
model. By referring to Fig. 66 it will be seen that the drapery 
appears to be drawn in a straight tense line across the back of the 
shoulders. Obviously, a line of this nature in drapery could only 
be produced by attaching the drapery to some support at L, 
which can easily be done. It was not done, however, on the 
living model, Fig. 67, but the drapery at this point was allowed 
to fall naturally, the only fastenings used in the drapery being 
those illustrated by Figs. 68c and 68d, and also one to hold the 
edge of the sinus in place on the right shoulder, as with the 
upraised arm, this part of the drapery could not retain its 
position unless it were attached. 

On Fig. 6sb, which is the back of Fig. 65a, the folds across the 
shoulders are not worked out, nor is the sinus in anyway ac- 
counted for. What the workman, working from memory, has 
done is to indicate the straight band which passes entirely around 
the chest. What we see is the part of this band, in the back, 
which corresponds to the part marked I on the front of Fig. 68a. 
Then he has ignored the sinus which is turned up over this 
band, even though the edge of the sinus as it lies along the top 
of the right shoulder and arm is worked out on the front of the 
statue in almost precisely the same manner as on Fig. 62. 


110 THE ROMAN TOGA 


These two statues, Fig. 62 and Fig. 65a, illustrate the insufh- 
ciency of any study of an intricate form of drapery based upon a 
single representation of it, or upon photographic representations. 
Neither Fig. 62 nor 65a taken alone furnish an explanation of 
the arrangement of the drapery in the back. But taken together 
and in connection with Fig. 57a they afford ample basis for the 
reconstruction. Also, Fig. 65a presents a misleading detail. On 
the right side, just back of and below the curve of the sinus, there 
seems to be a curve of drapery which could be construed as the 


- lower section of the toga. In reality, this detail consist/ of folds 


of the tunic, a part of which have been broken away. Fig. 65b 
shows this breakage and also shows that the curve of the under 
section of the toga is much higher up on the figure than is the 
detail referred to on Fig. 65a. 

With this drapery, a compact and secure arrangement of the 
toga has been achieved, together with an unhampered movement. 
of the legs, but it has completely lost the expression of the earlier 
toga. The left arm is still encumbered by the drapery. 

From what has been already demonstrated regarding the possi- 
bilities of hand weaving, we see that these later togas could well 
have been shaped in the weaving; but the convenience of weaving 
them in two pieces is apparent. It seems probable that the toga 


| of Fig. 69 was woven in three parts, the long strip being woven 


separately and the upper and lower sections attached to it. 


The next and final form of the toga is represented on the ivory 
diptychs, which the consuls of the fifth and sixth centuries were 
accustomed to have made for themselves and as gifts to their 
friends. 






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Late Form of Toga No. 3. 


Il 


i2 THE ROMAN TOGA 


As these togas are represented only in relief and on small 
ivory diptychs, which belong to a period of decadence in art, it 
is necessary to be cautious in making positive statements ceoar 
ing their form and the manner of draping them. In their recon- 
struction, there are a few details that can be based only on 
conjecture, supported, to be sure, by evidence from earlier forms 
of the toga. 

The differences in these togas is mainly in the draping, of 
which we may recognize three distinct styles, represented by 
Figs. 70a, bandc. Numerous us slight variations in drapery appear 
on the diptychs, but all are based on one or another of these 
three styles. Comparing the three figures, we find that each 
wears two tunics, which in form resemble those on Fig. 62 except- 
ing that on the diptychs the outer tunic is richly decorated and 
has a formal, fitted circular collar band instead of the loose 
neck opening. The togas on the three figures are also richly 
embroidered or brocaded.* Each has the long straight band 
which is the distinctive feature of Figs. 62 and 65a, but on 
the diptychs this band is much narrower and by reason of its elab- 
orate decoration is stiffer and more formal.’ We see on Figs. 
70a, b and c, this band or a continuation of it, is folded as it 
comes under the right arm, and gradually widens as it passes 
around the left shoulder. The remaining visible portion of the 
toga is the curving piece which is draped across the lap with the 


8 For a description of the richness of the costumes of the late consuls, see Claudianus, 
De IV cons. Honorii, 584-601. 

9 Wilpert, Un Capitolo di Storia del Vestiario in L’Arte I, 1899, assumes that the toga 
of Fig. 62 is an embroidered toga of the same form as those on the consular diptychs. But 
the appearance of the drapery of Figs. 62 and 65a prove that the texture is light and 
pliable and not stiffened by heavy embroidery, as is that of Figs. 7oa, b and c. That the 
two forms are by no means identical, is too apparent to require argument. 


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The Boezio Diptych. 


FIG. 70B. 


The Orestes Diptych in the V 


Fic. 70a. 
An Anonymous Consular Diptych of the 


Sixth Century. 


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LATER FORMS OF THE TOGA OS 


end carried on the left wrist. ‘The under section of the toga which 
we have seen shrinking in size in the preceding forms has entirely 
disappeared. Of the upper section, or sinus, there remains some 
portion that is brought across the back, and the scanty curving 
drapery across the lap, the end of which is thrown over the left 
wrist. On the various consular diptychs this part of the drapery 
varies in size, as is illustrated by Figs. 70a, b and c. 

On Fig. 70a, we see that the toga is placed on the wearer in 
exactly the manner illustrated by Fig. 68a; that is, the band is 
placed on the front of the body and passed over the left shoulder; 
then it is brought diagonally across the back, under the right arm 
and across the breast. It is then brought again over the left shoul- 
_ der and across the back. This completes the process as far as it 
is shown by Fig. 68a. The part of the drapery which the assistant 
in Fig. 68a holds up in his right hand has, on Fig. 70a, been 
reduced to a small curving, apron-like piece which is brought 
across the middle of the figure and over the wearer’s left wrist. 

A form of toga which meets these requirements is shown by 
diagram Fig. 74. It is compared with Fig. 39, which we found to 
be an imperial toga of moderate proportions. We see that the 
toga of the diptychs consists of a piece of cloth-having approxi- 
mately the shape of the sinus section of Fig. 39 and other togas 
of similar style, but very much smaller. To one end of this piece 
is attached a long narrow band. A toga of this shape is draped 
on the living model Fig. 71a in a style corresponding with Fig. 
704. 

The arrangement of the toga of Fig. 7ob is the one which 
appears on the greater number of diptychs. It is the single 
exception in toga history to one of the three hitherto fixed prin- 


ciples in the draping of the toga. On Fig. 7ob, the toga when 
13 


114 THE ROMAN TOGA 


first placed on the wearer passes over the right shoulder instead 
of the left. The exact disposition of this band in the back is 
one of the points on which no positive statement can. be made. 
It is clear that it passes over the right shoulder and emerges 
under the right arm. 

A simple arrangement which meets these requirements is shown 
on the living model Fig. 71b. The band passes over the right 
shoulder, and is brought directly under the arm to the front.” 
The band proper terminates under the arm, and the toga is 
brought across the breast around the left shoulder; then across 
the back, under the right arm and across the front of the body 
in the usual manner. | 

On Fig. 7oc the band passes over both shoulders. It is first 
passed over the left shoulder, exactly as on Fig. 70a, and then 
brought across the back and under the right arm. It has been 
suggested that the band over the right shoulder is an extra 
piece which is attached to the original band in the back, then 
brought over the right shoulder and attached again to the original 
band in front.” 

While this may be the solution, it is not necessarily so. The 
band after passing over the left shoulder, across the back and 
under the right arm could have been attached to itself on the 
front of the breast, see Fig. 72. Then it could be passed over the 
right shoulder and under the arm, as was done on Fig. 71b. The 
draping is then completed exactly as on Fig. 71b, with the result 
shown by Figs. 71c and 73. This drapery, as we see, is a combi- 
nation of that of Figs. 71a and 71b. 


10 A’ reconstruction which ‘involves a much more elaborate arrangement of the toga 
in the back is offered by Wilpert, of. cit., p. 98, Figs. A & A tr. 
11 Wilpert, op. cit., p. 97 and Fig. 17, p. ror. 








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Back View of the Toga of Fig. 71C¢. 


Pies 72. 
The Draping of the Toga of Fig. 71. 


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Fic. 74. 
The Toga of the Consular Diptych. 


LATER- FORMS OF THE TOGA ris 


On Figs. 71a, b and c the same toga is used, and the length of 
the band varied to meet the requirements. The greatest length is 
required by Fig. 71c and the shortest by Fig. 71b. In the recon- 
struction, no attempt was made to reproduce any given decora- 
tion, but the forms used are simplified adaptations of some of 
those appearing on the ivory reliefs. 


With the consular diptychs, the history of the toga ends. Be- 
ginning with the simple form befitting the early Republic, we 
have watched the growing elaboration of the toga through the 
centuries of Rome’s expansion until it culminated in the toga 
which symbolizes the brief but magnificent period of the early 
Empire; and then we have seen the contracted and changing 
forms which clothed Roman authority in its decadence. We have 
followed it to the eastern capital and have read the final chapter 
of its history on the little ivory diptychs. It is this embroidered, 
bejewelled little toga that has been suggested as the toga picta 
of the closing years of the Empire.” It may have been so called; 
but it is thoroughly Byzantine in style, and its connection with 
_ the splendid robe of Roman triumph is indeed remote; even as 
the obscure petty officials who wore it were but dim shadows 
of the once powerful Roman magistrates. 


12 Wilpert, of. cit., p. 89 f. 





APPENDIX 


THE TOGA FOR TODAY 


(Suggestions for its reconstruction) 


This study of the Roman toga will not be complete, nor will 
it accomplish its full purpose, unless it affords sufficient data 
to enable students and teachers of Latin literature and of Roman 
private life to reproduce the toga both for illustrating Roman 
costumes of a manikin, and for actual use in Latin and Roman 
historical plays. To this end, a few practical suggestions based 
on the writer’s experience are given in the following pages. 

Fapric: The first question and one of the most vexing in 
the reconstruction, is that of the material to be used; and this 
must be considered with regard to both the manikin and the 
living model. ‘The Romans, for the most part at least, used wool 
for their togas. In order to produce effective drapery, the mate- 
tial used must be exceedingly pliable, and while not heavy, it 
must be of such texture that it will, by its own weight, fall 
naturally into graceful curving folds. The surface must be soft 
and have a moderate nap, so that the folds will tend to cling 
together. Fabrics having a smooth, napless surface should never 
be used for the toga. The Romans themselves could not have 
used it, since the folds in such fabric will slip out of place with 
the slightest movement of the body. 


117 


118 THE ROMAN TOGA 


Of modern textiles, soft, pliable flannel or cloth of similar 
texture, most nearly satisfies the requirements. But inasmuch 
as the toga of average size contains from 12 to 15 yards of cloth, 
its cost, if made of such material, would be no small item. The 
most satisfactory substitutes that the writer has been able to find 
are very inexpensive. One is a cheap grade of outing flannel 
which is more loosely woven than the better grades. It should be 
washed and rubbed until the loose lint on its surface is removed, 
and then put through a laundry mangle. ‘The other substitute 
is a cheap, soft, loosely woven unbleached, or partly bleached 
muslin—not the stiff heavy quality. It should also be sent to the 
laundry and put through the mangle. It then resembles a thin 
flannel and is very effective for the large togas, where the drapery 
should fall in many small folds. For the smaller togas, all togas 
draped with the heavy folded bands, and for the toga of the 
consular diptychs, the outing flannel is more suitable. It has the 
extreme whiteness which, at certain periods, was very popular at 
Rome. 

The muslin can be used successfully for togas for the manikin, 
but the quantity required is so small that doubtless better material 
will often be preferred. If woolen cloth is used, it will need be 
very pliable and of the thinnest texture obtainable. A medium 
quality of crépe de chine, which has been washed and handled 
until it is soft and clinging, makes a beautiful drapery for the 
large togas on these little figures, and looks not unlike fine 
woolen fabric. 

CoLor: As we have already seen, the usual color of the toga 
was white; the toga praetexta had a purple border; on certain 
occasions a purple toga was worn; on others, a toga pulla which 
was of some dark, dull color. 


THE TOGA FOR TODAY 119 


Differences of opinion exist as to the purple (purpura) of the 
Romans. Some have interpreted it as scarlet; but the Romans had 
a different word which is translated scarlet, and their purple, 
as preserved in ancient wall paintings and other monuments, is 
not scarlet, nor is it the color which we today call purple. A 
close resemblance to it can be produced by using the shade listed 
as garnet among the various commercial dyes. Fig. 75 gives 
this color as nearly as it can be reproduced on paper. It will 
often be found difficult to purchase woolen cloth of this color 
and of the texture required for the toga; and it is usually im- 





[SNE Glee 
An Approximate Reproduction of a Shade of Roman Purple. 


possible to obtain cotton in any shade approaching it. Therefore, 
if an approximately correct color is desired, it will generally 
be necessary to dye the white cloth. 

MAKING THE ToGA: The following schedules of propor- 
tions, taken in connection with the diagrams referred to and the 
discussion of them in the preceding chapters, are self-explanatory. 

In cutting the toga, the curves bC and aD should be scanty 
or shallow, and there should be no angles; these curves and the 
edges BE and AF should curve into the adjacent straight lines. 
For convenience in draping, there should always be a seam to 
serve as a guide line at approximately the place where the toga 


120 THE ROMAN TOGA 


is folded over to form the sinus, that is, approximately along 
the line AB of the diagram. The proportions in the following 
schedules are given in such a way that the sinus and the lower 
section can be cut separately and joined by a seam. It is much 
more convenient to make the toga in this way, even though it 
involves, as it usually does on the living model, the adding of a 
part of a width to both the sinus and the lower section. There is 
evidence (see page 72) that the Romans had a seam through this 
part of their togas; but with their hand looms, they were able 
to weave the parts of the toga of any width desired, and thus 
avoid the cutting that we are obliged to do. 

All sewing should be done by hand. Where a seam is neces- 
sary, the edges of the cloth should be whipped together so that 
they will just meet, but not lap or form a ridge.. As we have 
already seen, the Romans doubtless wove the purple border upon 
their togas, but it is necessary for us to sew it on. It.should be a 
straight strip of cloth; a bias strip would be an anachronism, 
as it seems not to have made its appearance in garment making 
until long after the passing of the toga. 


MEASUREMENTS OF THE VARIOUS FORMS OF THE TOGA 


The “unit” referred to in the following schedules is the 
measurement of the wearer from the base of the neck in front 
(the top of the breast bone) to the floor, taken with shoes on. 

The girth measure is taken at the waist line. This measure- 
ment is important in determining the length of toga required. 
The same toga can be worn by different persons with practically 
the same effect, providing that they do not differ from each 
other more than an inch in either of these two measurements 


THE TOGA FOR TODAY 


121 


(the unit and the girth). The two dimensions AB and cd of the 
diagrams are the only ones which need to be precise. The lines 
CD, EF, Aa and Bb may and apparently do vary considerably 
on different togas of the same style without producing any notice- 


able difference in the drapery. 
The letters in parenthesis following the dimensions of 


the 


togas in the following schedules refer to the lines designated 


by those letters on the diagrams. 


I. THE TOGA OF THE ARRINGATORE 


(DiacraM, Fic. 7) 


Washoe cine, eieVigdat > (CAMSIY S a0 Rapes ioie a Sih Sra ane Girth plus 2 
RS ST DOE SE TY: GS 2] 59 a 4 
Rupees ormerastrarohtedge (CD). cc... cnc cc meee cass ee sevececcecsnns 1 
I Stare Rae Ging ross inisi ui sv aa" 8 9 Da Ale ok Sv and e Desens ies ae 13 
Il. THE LARGE TOGA OF THE REPUBLIC 
(DracraM, Fic. 16) 
PmemETISMELCTS TUN MEN Ict, vic cicis cet lao's > Saisar ss ck -ecieles ced out soos ee be Girth plus 22 
SS STRUTS (TOME DE Ch Cs 0&9 3 
eeoneGresiatenraupper edge (BE) ......6400.00ee scene nen es eds abesesesnee-s 1% 
memmrtmrestiatent lower edge (CD)... 2.0... 0 one cee cece enter tecescteeces 174 
Weneomeachecormmer cut of (BO and AM)...... 2.26.00 wcd ene sss eseeeees L 
EES eg ah as chic Rca alk y clas bs Wels Seated bs ep nde n swede eed 13 
HLALHE TOGA OF THE ARA PACIS 
(DiacraM, Fic. 18) 5; 
EME 83 SN es ied 5a he ble 6 sales cde wes n ane tee aes Girth plus 23 
eEOPR Ceti (Aad ANd BD). s ccc ccs cc ees ee cuenercseneccsestecces 3 
Weleneinor straight upper edge (EF).........-... 02. css cseeececeee creer tnees 17 
emmrerrercatent Jower edge (CD) oc. ciscce ns cece cece et neces er scencsens 14 
Extreme width (Cd)... 556.22 cece nae. SLs UP AS SA SE AI Dee ee oa 133 
NPR EISE RATES SLCC) Feakied ccs ei yjhind xiasp m=. coos os eek ee vie ca des 2 unit. 


memati lower section (dQ)... 0.05. 0b cece nab ences owe Iz’; units. 


units. 
unit. 
unit. 
units. 


units. 
unit. 
units. 
units. 
unit. 
units. 


units. 
unit. 

units. 
units. 
units. 


122 THE ROMAN TOGA 


IV. LARGE IMPERIAL TOGA 


(DracraM, Fic. 274) 


Extreme Tength (AB) sii... ose seis 25 cea nae © cirri enn teehee Girth plus 2% 
Width of each end (Aa and Bb).........0.ccceeecrne cer cercnsesncssessens $ 
Length of straight upper edge (EF)..........-eee cece cece eee e ene nent eens 2 
Length of straight lower edge (CD).......-.--.- sees e eee e eee e eee tence eens 15 
Extreme ‘width (ed) .is.00.00.+.0002 ese ctw os cot tone os each > ee 235 
Width’ of ‘sinus: (cQ) 0.65555 eS ee ee 27 unit. 
Width of lower section (d.Q))ifae osm eee ree teria 1% units. 


V. IMPERIAL TOGA WITH FOLDED BANDS 


(D1acRaM, Fic. 39) 


Extreme length (AB) i.0 2. 005.255 opens 04 overs oie ciel ae ee apeanel ent en Girth plus 24 
Width of each end (Aa and Bb)... ...2..80.. wes 0s neh oe er 3 
Length of upper edge (EF) ....2.0.0200.-0¢c0n5 cop so tiere cite wrist 13 
Length of lower straight edge (CD).......... . cate wale tte sah Ree 13 
Extreme width (ed). .2..c.600¢ ond elem s nee cwnley a6 siete =o an ees ar ete 17? 
Width ot sinuss( cQ)ioceaceneeen te SR Pian eeheS itt cc # unit. 
Width of lower section (dQ)s....0- 025 ya yee Spee 17; units. 


VI. THE DOUBLE TOGA 


(DiacraM, Fic. 50) 


Extreme length (AB). fo0 6¢2 5 ores oe eee san Girth plus 27; 
Width of each end (Aa and. Bb)... 2.662 0scesa uses canoe se bce eee 3 
Length of straight upper edge (EF)... . 0.20.20: ss, sues ones eee 3 
Zength of straight lower edge (CD)... 5.24.54... 002 +s «ware sey oe I 
Extreme width (cd): 5:22.20. .0s 00000000 ba c002 os ash pe see eee iid 
Width ‘of sinus (CO)\e ok cil -ce tee cee ecole yet ey eee I unit. 
Width of lower section, (dO) 5. asta items eee +? unit. 


VII. A TRANSITIONAL TOGA 


(Dracram, Fic. 53) 


units. 
unit. 
unit. 
units. 
units. 


units. 
unit. 

units. 
units. 
units. 


units. 
unit. 
unit. 
unit. 
units. 


The proportions of this toga are the same as those of the imperial toga with folded 
bands (V above) excepting that it is longer; the line AB should be the girth plus 24 units. 


THE TOGA FOR TODAY 


VIII. LATE FORM OF TOGA NO. 1 


(DracraM, Fic. 56) 


MEE PREPRESS D- is Coase gucardnya ae da ae lke vise g iss assec eves ee.s Girth plus 13? 
Remneorsenen etd (Ada and Bb) ......csscccec se ce sass atcaresensdastonrces t 
mengemarestrarchtupper edmem( EE). cis a/tsccieis cleus 'elr cislaieg el ae tien saee sees ees 4 
Premmenmotestiaiohtrowersedge (CD)... 660s ce eee eas eee ens eos ee beer eens I 
Length of vertical edge of folded portion of toga in front of knees (AO) about. 34 
EIR OC Die Peg ou tcl a nie Fae vd s'sla hel s gold WSs ee aineiceie ae be binie 6 meen 1$ 

BG ie OLerSLIMTOE CO) )i, ayers Siaye io giaiss skciese o gyn ayeie sce spe ieee Soave Izg units. 

PU AGhy OL aD WET HECHON (AQ). 2. se creda eccceipecsssese 3% unit. 


IX. LATE FORM OF TOGA NO. 2 


(D1acraM, Fic. 59) 


ME tL ATS ani talc oN sac aia ve cs ogen ss Semen emu eee aes Girth plus 134 
Romiiearseden end (Aa and Bb). 72.1.5. .-..0.sce eects ctacees See. Acaqee ames 3 
Téngeth of straight upper edge (EF)... 0.2... eevee esse e cee eee nsec eae eens + 
Meretnvotsiraignt lower edge (CD)... 2.2. see cece ence caste ences Roe Ly 
Length of folded strip hanging between the knees (AO)..+.....---.++--0e eee 2 
SE CLP te eae Lees wie hee a a Lew SOF Su piccee dace seme sets 2 
OE STC) GI PES Calne 1 og ge cee Ixy units. 
Width. of lower section, (dQ) so... 0. cence ce eele eee cc eeie 22 unit. 
X. LATE FORM OF TOGA NO. 3 
(DiacraM, Fic. 69) 
Extreme length (AB)..........-.- cece eee ence e eect eter ene en ees Girth plus 27; 
Width of long strip (Aa) .......... cece cece cece eee e een eee eet eneeeees 25 
Length of long strip (AO)........ 2. cece cece erence eee e eet ete e ene nes 17 
Length of straight upper edge (EF).....-..... es seee cece erence teen ence eens Ea 
Length of straight lower edge (CD)........-- ese cece cece crete teen e eens $ 
Length of each section along the apparent joining with the long strip (AO 
NMS a Sty ideas ce eS ess edie coke sie t Melx ee aad HATE Oe sew eicn an 17 
Length of straight edges of sinus (IB and TO)......-.-.+eseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i 
Length of each straight side of lower section (ib and oM) At Lar eae eae 3g 
(These last two measurements are exclusive of the width of the 
straight strip, which is here considered as running through the entire 
toga.) 
MPR IMERE IGE (CO), 655 ou civic res taee nce e ses ccs ceeenes conver nee cs keine 24 
Rim GaeG tl Sis (CL) ) sca - noises. cern iee staves ese 13°; units. 
Width of lower section (dR)... ......cscec seen eeeeeeee = unit. 


(Between the sinus and the lower section is the width of the long 
strip, ss of the unit.) 


123 


units. 
unit. 
unit. 
unit. 
unit. 
units. 


units. 
unit. 
unit. 
unit. 
unit. 
units. 


units. 
unit. 
units. 
unit. 
unit. 


units. 


unit. 
unit. 


units. 


124 THE ROMAN TOGA 


XI. THE TOGA OF THE CONSULAR DIPTYCH 
(DracraM, Fic. 74) 


Extreme “length (AB)... 2h). 2. esata ele ont ec ee ee ee Girth plus 2% units. 
Width of long strip (Aa): jcciine css wns spits oe ate tes shea gree about 6 inches. 
* Length of long strip to point where it begins to widen (line AM)........... 17; units. 
Length of upper edge of drapery (EF)....2...5..0000.0.25004 000s 4 unit. 
Width of end of drapery’ (Bb). 3.00.2. co. .n a ceo es occ de eae eee about 10 inches. 
Extreme’ width (ed) o.g. Gel. e055 os okie eg eee € unit. 
Line ORD i. sins sos dels « o 28 vos Sec a 2 ies age about 10 inches. 
Lime OM oo. oes 2 ou abs Wh «Sale 24S wilde ela uy oon cuneate ape ere fz units. 


DRAPING: In the foregoing chapters, the process of draping 
the various forms of the toga have been described in detail, and 
each step illustrated by photographs of the living model. For 
draping the toga on a manikin, little need be added, and this 
section will be devoted mainly to the draping of the imperial 
toga on the living model, since that is the most difficult form to 
drape. The late forms, while they appear complicated, tend 
more and more to formalization and therefore to more fixed 
processes of draping, which have been fully explained. 

Perhaps no more erroneous idea ever gained acceptance than 
the one sometimes expressed, even in class rooms, that when 
dressing, the Greeks and Romans simply caught up their. gar- 
ments, flung them about their bodies, and the drapery fell into its 


desired graceful positions,-giving the wearer no further trouble 
during the day. Literary references heretofore cited prove the 


absolute falsity of any such theory, so far as the toga is concerned. 


* The length of this strip varies with different styles of draping. The measurement given 
above is for the toga of Fig. 71 b. An addition equal to about two-sevenths the unit is 
required for the toga of Fig. 71a, and about three-quarters the unit for the toga of 
Fig. 71¢. 

The consular diptych togas, judging from the representations of them, varied greatly 
in all their proportions. The measurements here given are those used in the reconstruction 
on Figs. 71a, b and c, which is intended only as a general statement of this form of toga. 


THE TOGA FOR TODAY 425 


It is unquestionably true that the Romans put on and wore 
their togas with greater ease than is possible to us. For centuries 
they had worn draped garments, and the wearers, at least of the 
elaborate forms of the toga, had slaves to assist them in its ad- 
justment. Many of these slaves were Greeks—a race whose skill 
in the handling of drapery has never been equaled. But even to 
Romans and to their Greek slaves, the draping of the toga was 
an art, and a slovenly arrangement of it marked a man as a boor. 
It is hardly necessary to add that in the case of westerners, any | 
successful draping of the toga can only be the result of patient, — 
painstaking care on the part of both the model and the person 
doing the draping. While wearing his toga, the Roman devoted 
his left arm, and sometimes his left hand as well, to the support 
of his drapery. This is what the living model and the togated 
characters in a play must do—not an especially easy task for one 
accustomed to the freedom of sleeved garments. 

No instructions can ever be given that will cover every detail 
in the draping of any toga, much less for the imperial toga, either 
when draped loosely or with folded bands. A great deal must 
be left to the skill of the operator, but a few points in addition 
to the illustrations and explanations already given, may be useful: 

1. When the toga is first placed on the body, see that several 
inches of the lower section along the guide-line seam are gath- 
ered into the folds that are first placed on the left shoulder. See 
Fig. 31a. 

2. See that the guide-line seam hangs straight from the shoul- 
der to the end of the toga in front, and that the sinus is brought 
to the front, so that its edge will fall in ripples as on Fig. 31a. 
In continuing the drapery, the fold along the guide-line seam is 
not maintained. See discussion of Figs. 27a and 27b. 


126 THE ROMAN TOGA 


3. When placing the drapery over the model’s left arm, that 
arm should always be extended as in Fig. 5, and the balancing of 
the drapery over this arm must be maintained, even when the 
arm is brought into its characteristic position. When the drapery 
is completed, the wearer should always be able to extend his arm 
as in Fig. 5, and bring it back to position without allowing the 
drapery to slip over the outside of the arm. This is easily done 
after one relinquishes the freedom of his left arm and devotes it 
to his drapery. 

4. As the toga is brought around the model, there is a tendency 
for the fabric to cling together and mass around the middle of 
the body, so that it is necessary to pull both the undersection and 
the sinus down into position, allowing the folds to form as they 
appear on the sculptured figures. Correct draping of the toga 
requires careful attention to this detail. A toga which is of 
ample size for the wearer, will seem too small and short unless 
properly adjusted. 

5. A large part of the adjustment of the toga must be accom- 
plished by massing the fabric in and under the second set of 
folds on the left shoulder. See Fig. 31b. For this, no instruc- 
tion can be given. It is never done twice in precisely the same 
way. Here, as on other parts of the figure, the drapery must be 
arranged so as to produce the proper effect. 

6. For use in plays and representations of Roman life, the 
toga appropriate to the period should be used. For the period 
of the Republic, the problem is simple. For the transitional 
period and for the early years of the empire, the toga of the 
Ara Pacis (III in the foregoing schedules of proportions and 
diagram Fig. 18) can be used for all citizens and officials ex- 
cepting the emperor and the flamines. For ordinary private 


THE TOGA FOR TODAY 127 


citizens during the first two centuries of the empire, this toga 
can properly be made at least 6 inches shorter (line AB) and 6 
inches narrower (line cd) than the measurements given in 
Schedule III. This produces a toga which extends about mid- 
way between the knee and ankle, which is the length generally 
represented on figures of private citizens. Each half of the toga 
of the flamines is about the size of the toga of the Arringatore 
(Schedule I). Up to about the beginning of the third century, 
for high officials, and even later for the emperor, a toga of the 
dimensions of Schedule V will be appropriate; but for this 
period, it should be draped in the same manner as the toga of Fig. 
30 or Fig. 36, the latter being later in style. 

While the Romans probably wore the toga draped in any or 
all of these styles without fastenings, it is hardly safe to depend 
upon the present-day wearer to do so. It will usually be found 
advisable to secure the mass of fabric on the left shoulder, but 
the fastening should be invisible. The drapery with folded 
bands is stable, and should require no fastenings excepting those 
mentioned in the description of Figs. 41a, b and c, 45 and 46 
and 52a and b. 


, 





BIBLIOGRAPHY 


MODERN TEXTS 


Albizzati, Carlo: L’Ultima Toga, in Rivista Italiana di Numismatica, 2d ser. V. Milan, 
1922. 

Amelung, Walther: Die Gewandung der alten Griechen und Rimer in text of Tabulae 
quibus antiquitates Graecae et Romanae illustrantur yon Stephen Cybulski. Leipzig, 
1903. 

Baumeister, A.: Denkmaeler des klassischen Altertums, under Toga by Miiller. Munich 
and Leipzig, 1888. 

Becker, W. A.: Gallus, or Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus. London, 1876. 

Blimner, Hugo: Die Rémischen Privataltertiimer in Iwan von Miller, Handbuch der 
klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, 1V, 2, ii, Munich, 1911. 

Daremberg et Saglio: Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines, under Toga by 
F. Courbet. Paris, 1919. 

Guhl, Ernst, und Koner, Wilh.: Das Leben der Griechen und Romer. Berlin, 1893. 

Helbig, W.: Toga und Trabea in Hermes, XXXIX, 1904. 

Heuzey, Léon: Histoire du costume antique. Paris, 1922. 

Hula, Eduard: Die Toga der spateren Kaiserzeit; Briinn, 1895. 

Johnston, Harold Whetstone: The Private Life of the Romans. New York and Chicago, 
1903. 

Launitz, V. D.: Ueber die Toga der Rimer und die Palla der Rimerinnen, Heidelberg, 
1865. 

Marquardt, Joachim: Das Privatleben der Romer. Leipzig, 1886. 

Micali, Giuseppe: Storia degli Antichi Popoli Italiani. Milan, 1835. 

Miiller, Albert: Die Toga bei Horat. Epod. IV, 8 in Philologus, XXVIII, 1869. 

Reinach, Salomon: Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine. Paris, 1897. 

Répertoire de reliefs grecs et romains. Paris, 1912. 

Ross, C. F.: The Reconstruction of the Later Toga in American Journal of Archaeology, 
XV, 1911. 

Sandys, John Edwin: A Companion to Latin Studies. Cambridge University Press, 1910. 

Smith, William: 4 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities under Toga by W. C. F. 
Anderson. London, 1891. 

Wilpert, Giuseppe: Un Capitolo di Storia del Vestiario in L’Arte, I, 1899. 


129 








INDEX 


Antonine period, the toga of, 74. 

Ara Pacis, togas represented in reliefs of, 
43, 44; form of toga of, 46; reconstruc- 
tion of toga of, 48. 

Arringatore, the, statue of, 26; form of toga 
of, 27, 29, 30; border and stripes on 
toga of, 35-37; reconstruction and drap- 
ing of toga of, 29, 31-32. 

Asconius, 26. 

Augustus, 61, 83. 

Camillus, ancient statue of, 26. 

Capitolinus, 85. 

Cassius, Dio, so. 

Cato, 26, 27. 

Cicero, 58. 

Cinctus Gabinus, 86-88. 

Constantinople, capital of Roman Empire 
removed to, 104; form of toga in vogue 
at, 105 ff, 

Consular diptychs, toga of, 86, 112-115. 

Coptic garments, 35, 50; details in weaving 
‘of, 35, 84; width of web of, 71. 

Decius, 86. 

Diocletian, monument of reign of in Roman 
Forum, 101-103. 

Diodorus, 63. 

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 17, 19, 28, 29, 
38, 85. 

Flaccus, Caius, 56. 

Flamines, toga of, 56-60. 

Folded bands of toga (see “Toga with 
folded bands”). 

Fortune, temple of, 18. 

Gellius, Aulus, 26. 

Gordianus, 85. 

Hortensius, 73. 

Isidore (of Seville), 17, 20, 21, 27, 51, 87, 
88. 


131 


Juvenal, 83, 90. 

Laena, 57-58, 60. 

Livy, 52, 56, 83. 

Macrobius, 73. 

Martial, 90. 

Ovid, 63. 

Pliny, 18, 34, 54, 55. 

Pompeii, wall paintings in, 50, 53. 

Popilius, Marcus, 58. 

Quinctius, Lucius (Cincinnatus), 83. 

Quintilian, 17, 21, 27, 28, 31, 32, 39, 40. 

Republican period, toga of (see “Toga of 
Republican Period ’’). 

Romulus, statue of, 26. 

Seated figure, toga on, 72-73. 

Servius, 18, 53, 60. 

Sinus (of toga), 44, 45, 91 ff., 97. 

Suetonius, 61, 83. 

Tatius, statue of, 26. 

Temple of Fortune, 18. 

Tertullian, 18, 78. 


LOGA: 

Arringatore (see “ Arringatore, toga of,” 
etc.). 

Candida, 51. 

Color of, 49 ff. 

Discontinuing use of, 82, 83, 90. . 

Double toga, form of; reconstruction of 
on living model, 91-92. 

Imperial toga, form of; evidence from 
statues, 63-67; general discussion of, 
61-63; reconstruction and draping of, 
67-70; texture of represented on statues, 
62-63. 

Inconvenience of in general, 78, 82-83. 

Late forms of; general discussion of, 89- 
90; numerous variations in, ror. 


ee INDEX: 


Late form of, No. 1, on a figure in a 
sarcophagus relief in Museo delle 
Terme, 97-98; form of, and reconstruc- 
tion of, 98-99. 

Late form of, No. 2, on a statue from 
So. Africa in the Louvre, 99; form of, 
reconstruction and draping of, 99-1o1. 

Late form of, No. 3; representations of in 
sculpture, 104; form of, 107; details 
of drapery, 105-107; reconstruction and 
draping of, 107-109; probable manner 
of weaving, 110. 

Length of, 73, 81-82. 

Material of, 34. 

Of consular diptychs; general discussion 
of, 112-113; reconstruction and draping 
of, 113-115. 

Of Republican period (see “ Arringatore, 
toga of,” etc.) ; large toga of Republican 
period, representations of in sculpture, 
39; form and reconstruction of, 40-42. 

Of Trajanic period, 75. 

Older and later forms used at same 
period, 44-45, 101-103. 

On the seated figure, 72-73. 

Origin of, 18-20. 

Phryxiana, 34. 

Picta, 84-85. 

Praetexta, 18, 36, 51; ancient origin of, 
18-20, 54; by whom worn, 52; meaning 
of term, 54-55; purple border of, where 
located, and width of, 52-53; represen- 
tation of in wall-painting, 53; weaving 
of, 56. 








Pulla, 36, 50. 

Pura, 52. 

Rasa, 34. 

Reconstruction of toga, general discussion 
Of 2a 

Reconstruction of for today; color, 118- 
119; fabric, 117-118; making, 119 ff.; 
measurements and schedules of propor- 
tions, 120-124; suggestions in regard to 
draping, 124-127. 

Seam in toga, 71-72, I10. 

Sources of information regarding toga, 
general, 17 ff. 

Trabea, 36-39. 

Transitional form of toga on a portrait 
statue in the Villa Doria Pamphilia; 
form, draping and reconstruction of, 
94-95. 

Undulata, 34. 

Use of fastenings with toga, 48-49, 79, 80, 
97, 108, 109, 114, 127. 

Virilts, 52. 

Wearing of by women and children, 27, 
(pir 

Weaving of, 70-72. 

With folded bands, 77-84. 


Trajanic period, toga of, 75. 

Tunica palmata, 85. 

Umbo, 49, 67. 

Valerius, Lucius, 52. 

Viatlt Ons 7603s 

Venus Genetrix (Louvre), 24. 

Villa Doria Pamphilia, the, portrait statue 


in, 94-95. 





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